


Foam on the Large Wave (Fisi 'o e nauaoam)

by bookscape



Category: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Genre: Gen, Science Fiction, Submarines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-19 15:54:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 69,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20212366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookscape/pseuds/bookscape
Summary: An ONI operation that goes terribly wrong....





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> As I was re-reading this I realized that my time writing fan-fiction was not only helping my writing abilities, but I was guilty of what so many other fan-fiction writers did at the time. HC. Very common in this craft. Hurt/comfort. I really nailed Captain Crane this time. I did it to John Robinson, too. But I also did this story to delve into the minds of the characters, their reactions and their deep seated respect and love for one another. I hope you enjoy the story. I think I do it to Admiral Nelson next....

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**Prologue**

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**Laughter accompanied the next needle.It was the laughter of someone getting intense pleasure from his work.The contents of the needle surged into his veins, coursing like a boiling river.He gasped in shock and pain; terrified at what this round would bring.The laughter echoed and then died away.Then the horror began.Behind his eyes a deluge of fire stretched around his skull, then it raged through his body, even to the tips of his fingers.** ****

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**Hell was an inferno, the blazing interior of a volcano.He was at the edge, peering in; then he was falling, feeling the heat peel the layers of his skin back to the bone.He screamed, but his throat was already raw, now it was burned and blistered like his hand.It seemed to last forever, these visions of searing heat.He was in the reactor room, his body wrapped around a reactor rod.He was dropping into the blazing corona of the sun, his eyes burning in their sockets.It went on forever, the lava, the radiation, the heat, fire, pain and misery.** ****

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**Then suddenly, the volcano, the reactor, the sun were gone and the prisoner was in the next level of hell.He just didn’t know it yet.Opening his eyes, he saw the carved-out stone of the cave.With his good hand, he felt the rough coolness of the bedrock and sighed in relief.There was his cot, the door, the tiny lavatory, the uneven stone floor. He took a sobbing breath, grateful that the terrible, ghastly distortions had ceased for the moment._How long this time?_**

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**Shakily, Lee Crane pulled himself to his knees.As he grabbed at the stone wall, hoping he had enough strength to walk to his cot, Mendon appeared at his door.Crane had heard nothing, but his own version of Satan was now standing in front of him.He stayed on his knees, moaning at the thought of a new horror the scientist had undoubtedly cooked up for him.“No,” he whispered.“No.No more.”** ****

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**“Give me what I want, Captain,” Mendon said.The light in the cell had turned blood red and the little man’s features suddenly took on an underworldly aura.The clipped beard drew into a point, and blood dripped from its meticulously pointed end.The red-hued face was grotesquely tight with the leering grin and then Mendon laughed. The bright blue, ice-cold eyes bored into him and Lee envisioned horns sprouting from the short, brown hair.The laugh was like a spear, the words like daggers.“Give me what I want, Captain.”** ****

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**“No, can’t.Can’t.Oh, God, I wish I….”And he stopped himself, knowing what he had been about to say.He wished he could give Mendon what he wanted; to give him the information and then be at peace.And that, in and of itself, pierced him with incalculable guilt.He was willing to give what they wanted, sell out his friends so he could sit here in the peace of a cold stone cell.His weakness sickened him and he bent over, retching.**

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**“Give me what I want, Captain Crane.Your friends have abandoned you; you are alone.Only I can give you relief.Only by releasing what is in your mind will you find peace.Nelson doesn’t give a damn about you….Just give me what I want and then you can rest.”** ****

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**“No, no, no!” Crane screamed and then as the next needle plunged into his arm, he fell into an abyss of unconsciousness that held its own nightmares.**


	2. Prologue

**Commander Lee Crane, late of the Navy, but now captain of one of the largest, fastest and most technologically advanced submarines in the world, stood in the bow observation room of the _Seaview_, watching the waves boil against the Herculite hull plates.The sub sliced through the water with power that still held him transfixed at times, despite his past years commanding her.By the time his mind returned to the present, his coffee was cold.He turned back to the admiral, the man he had always admired, but had come over the past few years to consider a close friend, as well as his mentor.During all this time, Admiral Nelson had not said a word, only gazing out the bow windows, much as Lee had.** ****

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**“So let me get this straight,” Lee said quietly, putting his mug down on the small table near one of the bow windows.He felt the tingling of uneasiness and decided to play devil’s advocate on this one. “I’ll be some kind of high class courier.Why can’t this be done electronically?There are secure lines.”** ****

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**Admiral Harriman Nelson looked tired, but his eyes were penetrating and held the glint of intense and deep thought.They almost always did.It wasn’t often that the admiral wasn’t thinking of solutions, new ideas or the world in general.His genius had saved mankind several times.It was a wonder to Lee that anyone still ever doubted the older man’s intuitions and summations.But then, the admiral was the first one to admit that he didn’t have all the answers.“Lee, you know about computer bugs, wiretaps and code-busters just as much as I do.In something as important as all this, it’s still better to use human know-how.To use a flesh and blood person.”He sighed.“I think this conversation would be better continued in my cabin,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at the busy control room.**

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**Lee nodded.Now, perhaps, he would get some of the answers he felt were being denied him.“Why me?” Lee asked when they had arrived in the admiral’s cabin.Nelson motioned the captain to a chair by his desk.Lee sat and waited.If he had been asking anyone else these questions, the captain realized that they might have wondered about his courage or loyalty, but he knew the admiral thought no such thing.It was a question of curiosity and it would be answered honestly and directly.So the captain was surprised when his superior came up with something that Lee would have expected from a politician.** ****

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**“Lee, I selected you because I trust you explicitly—and because you’re the best,” Nelson returned after a moment’s pause.“And I wasn’t the only one who wanted you doing this.”** ****

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**Lee snorted.“I appreciate the former, but ‘the best’?I’ve bungled my share of undercover assignments.Admiral, there are lots of first class spies out there.You and I both know that.”He paused and gazed intently into the admiral’s intense blue eyes.“Something’s bothering you,” Lee pressed softly.** ****

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**“And you’ve skillfully and successfully accomplished such assignments, even the ones you feel you bungled.”Nelson’s eyes grew hard.“And yes!Something is bothering me,” he said tersely.“This is a dangerous—highly dangerous, venture.There is someone out there who wants to get his or her hands on this project.Someone who is willing to kill in order to obtain the information—and has!”The admiral leaned back in the seat behind his desk and sighed lustily.“And I am sending the person closest to me into the middle of it,” he added wearily.“I would dearly love to pick the name of someone I don’t know and let the government blithely send them into this morass.”** ****

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**Crane ** **was taken aback by the admiral’s emotion.He also knew that the admiral never ‘blithely’ sent anyone anywhere, even strangers.Some of their missions still haunted the older man’s dreams.But he chose not to say anything about that.“I appreciate your confidence, Admiral.But if you think I can do it….”** ****

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**“Of course, I think you can do it, Lee,” Nelson snapped.The eyes seemed to be seeing something in the distance, and they grew hard again.“I want you to think carefully about this.You will be alone.Since we don’t know who is behind all this cloak and dagger, we can’t give you direct support, we can’t prepare you for any specific attack, subterfuge or action.”Nelson paused and gazed steadily at his next in command.“You will be at the whims of your contacts, most of whom, I don’t even know.Any one of them could be playing both sides. You could very well be captured—or killed.And we most likely won’t have the means to come to your rescue.”** ****

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**Lee couldn’t help it.He chuckled.“Admiral, we’ve been in those situations before.Death seems to trail the _Seaview._”** ****

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**Nelson shook his head.“Not like this.”** ****

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**“Can you give me more details?”** ****

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**Again, Nelson shook his head.“You have to trust me.What little I have been given about this mission, I’m not supposed to divulge.”He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.“I will tell you this much about the project itself, more than what the ONI wanted me to tell you.”Nelson took a deep breath.“In order for more security, there have been several planners, each now separate from the other, with different components to work on.”** ****

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**There was still something not quite right about this and that something was making the older man nervous.Up until recently, Admiral Nelson had been much more candid to him about the various secret projects, scientific discoveries and missions.But lately?The admiral had been as cagey as a cat with a stash of mice in his paws.“Components?” Lee asked, puzzled by the admiral’s lack of forthrightness, despite Nelson’s claim of telling him more than he was supposed to.**

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**“What I mean is that several people are working on the same problem and their solutions will be studied together.”Nelson got up from behind his desk.He paced the confines of the cabin twice and then sat back down.“The other people have come up with their solutions, but you have the assignment to go and get the most important person’s notes.He has been threatened and attacked in the past and he is in deep cover.I don’t know where he is, almost no one knows.He will not come out of hiding until he is sure his safety won’t be compromised.”** ****

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**Lee had a sudden and nasty suspicion, but he didn’t voice it.“So theoretically, the other people, you included, have the same possible solutions.”Sudden insight came to him.“The Helsinki Symposium!That was where you four began collaborating.”Nelson didn’t say a thing, but there was a glint in his eye that told Lee that he had made the right summation and that his boss was secretly pleased.Crane paused a moment and then decided to lay all his suspicions on the table.“I gather that I am also a guinea pig of sorts.A decoy to pull this mysterious enemy out of hiding.”** ****

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**“I didn’t say that.You will be getting extremely time sensitive and vitally important information, Lee.And I will be doing all I can, along with ONI to make sure you are not only successful but safe.”The admiral paced again, then paused, right in front of Lee.“You have to trust me,” Nelson said.He seemed almost apologetic.“I can’t give out too much information.”** ****

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**“In case I’m captured by this mysterious crack-pot,” Lee answered.** ****

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**Again, the admiral sighed, but didn’t answer right away.“Lee, if you seriously have doubts, please, say no.This is just between us and won’t go further.We have too much respect for each other to be judgmental anymore.”** ****

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**Lee stared at the clock on the admiral’s wall before turning back to his commander.Their eyes made contact.“I trust you, Admiral,” he answered softly.“For whatever reasons you want me to do this, I’ll do it.”** ****

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**Nelson turned suddenly and returned to his desk.Inside a small drawer, he pulled out a small slip of paper.“Memorize this.It’s your first contact.”Lee took it.“There will be several.Hopefully that will keep any enemy trackers off your tail.”** ****

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**Lee nodded.“We’ll be back at the Institute in the morning.Is that when you want me to go?”** ****

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**“Not exactly.You need to go ashore south of here, land on the beach and walk to your contact.The place will be only a mile from where you come ashore.”** ****

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**Lee looked at the tiny scrap in his hand.He expected a seedy type of establishment in a seedy neighborhood, but from what he knew of the area, this was a better part of the city, more high class.Very high class, he thought, since it was also near the beach. The Malibu of Santa Barbara.Nodding, he turned back to the admiral.“Go in as a civilian?”** ****

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**Nelson nodded.“Yes, and travel light.No identification.Anything you need will be provided by your contacts.”** ****

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**“Suppose it’ll be all right to carry a toothbrush and a few dollars, right?” he asked with a slight grin.Whatever was eating the admiral, he wasn’t going to add to it now.The job was his and Lee was determined that he wasn’t going to act like he was going to his own funeral.** ****

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**For the first time, Nelson cracked the barest hint of a smile.“You don’t expect the Institute to cover all the expenses, do you?” he asked wryly.** ****

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**Lee knew the humor was forced, but he was glad to see the admiral respond to it.“You mean I can’t even save the receipts?”** ****

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**The admiral snorted.“Get some sleep.You’ll need it, Lee.Our jokes are already pretty thread bare.”** ****

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**“Aye aye, Admiral,” Lee responded lightly and left the cabin.He returned to the control room, where he checked readings, gauges, and the latest reports.When Lt. Commander Chip Morton reported in, Lee greeted him briefly.“Con is yours, Commander,” he said.“I’m going to try and get some sleep.We’ll be in port shortly after dawn.”**

**The blond-haired young man only nodded.This was all routine.**

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**The next morning Crane was dressed in civilian clothes that matched the season as well as the upscale nature of where he was going.To outward appearances, he would look like a jogger out earlier than any reasonable man should be.The admiral said little, only helping Lee put a small raft into the water.Lee stepped into it.With the address in his head and the paddle at his feet, he was ready. Without more than a quick wave of farewell, he picked up an oar and began paddling.There was no need to say or do anything else.**

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**Harriman watched as the man he had come to know as an extremely close friend, as well as a damned fine officer, rowed into the early morning blackness.He felt a chill run down his back and he wondered if it was the morning air . . . or something else.**

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**=================================** ****

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**Lee sat in a very comfortable chair in an almost obscenely huge living room, sipping iced tea.A huge picture window showed a mile distant sparkling ocean.More, it had seemed to him this morning, he remembered wryly, feeling the soreness in his feet and ankles settling.It had been all up hill and in and out of neighborhood streets.The mile had really been as the crow flies.And he was no crow.** ****

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**One wall of the room was almost taken up by a huge stone fireplace, the mantle richly polished mahogany.The floor reminded him of what a Roman senate chamber or forum might have looked like.It was covered with richly embossed tiles that were definitely _not_ peel and stick squares.At the insistence of his host, Lee had left his running shoes in a small recessed space by the front door.He was not only somewhat intimidated by the opulence around him, but also by the man in front of him—a man who could have been a brother, considering the resemblance.**

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**“I have to admit, I’m going to enjoy this ‘enforced’ vacation,” the man, Jeffrey Morris, was saying.His drink was a bit more potent, a wine cooler.“But I hope it doesn’t drag out too long.I like to get out, too.”** ****

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**Lee shrugged.“Your guess is as good as mine as to how long this will be.”He had found out that Jeffrey, Jeff to his friends was a civilian contract engineer who often worked for the government on military jobs.This ‘enforced’ vacation would allow him the opportunity to work on some of his contracts without interruption.The benefit to the government, other than giving Lee his cover, was that the various plans and designs would actually get finished and turned in on time.Morris’ penchant for fun and games was going to provide the captain’s cover, but it had also been a sore spot for those who often had to wait several days past deadline for completed projects.The man was a genius, from what he had read in the sealed packet he received when he had arrived, but a very nonchalant one.He watched Morris over his glass.**

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**“I wish you’d give me some name, though.I really don’t like the idea of talking to a non-entity,” Morris said.**

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**Lee smiled.“You are getting paid a very large bonus, according to this,” he said, patting the papers on his lap, “to not know who I am.Better for you in the long run.”He took another sip.There was something about the man that slightly annoyed him, but he could understand the other’s curiosity.If he had been loaning his identity to someone else, Lee would want to know more, too. “If it makes you feel any better, you can call me Rocket J. Squirrel for all I care,” he added with a chuckle.“I’ll be out of your hair by dawn anyway.”** ****

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**“Yeah, I know, I know,” Morris said.“Well, go ahead and take what you need for your trip.I can give you some pointers, since by your own admission, you haven’t done any serious running for some years.”** ****

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**That was an understatement, thought Lee.You don’t do laps on a submarine, except on a treadmill or in the missile room.He chuckled mentally.“I appreciate that, Jeff,” Lee said, lifting his glass in a mock toast.They talked amiably for the next hour, working around the slight degree of wariness that comes when two people are thrown together in an awkward situation that is not of their making and over which they have little control.After that and with Morris’ help, Lee gathered several changes of his host’s clothes, including all that he would need for an around the world running excursion.Morris’ flippant remark that he would love the excuse to do something like that fell on deaf ears.For some reason, Lee thought that was the least desirable part of this assignment.He could visualize himself passing out in a race somewhere, heaven only knew where, simply because he hadn’t had time to get in shape for it.**

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**With a sigh, he tried to listen carefully as Morris gave him pointers on running 5 and 10 K races.Lee knew the basics; he had done some running in high school and, of course at the academy, along with the boxing that had earned him a few trophies in intercollegiate competitions.However, he couldn’t really remember doing anything serious since his days in the Naval Academy.Finally, he had to shrug it off and figure that someone had put that information into the scenario and he would somehow be able to pull all this off.By mid-afternoon a large suitcase was packed and they were back in the living room, chatting amiably again.Just before sunset, they worked out on a private tennis court in the back of the house, and had a gourmet dinner on the patio afterward.Lee tried to get a few hours sleep before he had to leave, but ended up wishing he had just stayed up watching television, something else he hadn’t had much experience with lately.Dozing off had only made him feel groggy by the time the alarm rang at three in the morning.** ****

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**By four, Crane was in a cab, on his way to the airport where a ticket in the name of Jeffrey Morris was waiting for him at the reservation desk.Destination?Salt Lake City, Utah.His packet had only said that his first stop was to work out the final phases of a government contract.At least it was at a resort—Park City.He had heard of it.According to the weather report at Morris’ house, he might get to see snow-covered mountain peaks.It had been a while.If he was going to do the James Bond shtick, at least he would try to enjoy where the powers that be were sending him.**

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	3. Foam on the Large Wave

**Crane ** **stepped off the plane and walked the long concourse to the baggage area.Small shops along the way sold sweatshirts and ski caps, while others tried to entice with Indian made souvenirs, including some very expensive jewelry.Jeff Morris wouldn’t have blinked twice at some of the prices, but Lee Crane did.As he rode the escalator down he noticed numerous people with signs, most of them for returning missionaries, duplicating some he had seen at the gates.He perused them casually and then did a double take.He had missed the sign with his cover’s name on it the first time.Luckily he was still on the escalator and his faux paux wasn’t noticed.When he reached the bottom, he strode toward the short, rather large-waisted man.**

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**“You Jeffrey Morris?” the man asked.** ****

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**“Yes,” Lee responded.“And you are….”** ****

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**“Michael Jensen,” came the response.“I have a car waiting as soon as you pick up your baggage.”He glanced at Lee’s briefcase.“The papers?”** ****

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**Lee raised an eyebrow.“Of course, Mr. Jensen.Finished and ready to be sent to your development department.”** ****

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**Jensen almost beamed.“Terrific!”**

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**The ride up the canyon was probably the most picturesque Lee had ever seen.The sun rose in front of them as they passed through Emigration Canyon, painting the snow-covered mountaintops in bright gold.As the sun rose, the bright glare from the snow became almost blinding.Jensen chuckled as Lee gaped at the steep, white mountains that seemed to press in on them.“Impressive, aren’t they?”**

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**“Yes,” Lee had to admit.**

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**After he had checked into his hotel room, he pulled on his warmest jacket and headed out the door.Jensen’s boss, Martin Crenshaw, wouldn’t be contacting him until just before dinner, and Lee wanted to get the most out of his stay here.He supposed, considering what he was here for, he should be more careful and not wander, but somehow, he didn’t think anyone would try to make a move on him until they thought he had something they needed.It was an ugly thought, one that kept warring with the assurances that the intelligence agency had everything under control, as they had asserted in his briefing papers.If it was information as important as the admiral had alluded to, the ONI, FBI and every other intelligence acronym would be falling all over themselves trying to keep the security foolproof.But still….** ****

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**Enjoy, he told himself.So he did just that.He did take a little time to work out in the hotel gym and then read the background notes on the company he was delivering Morris’s specifications to.Hopefully, Crenshaw wouldn’t ask anything too technical.**

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**Crenshaw didn’t.Most of the evening was spent listening to the man’s glowing praise of the plans and what they would do for his company’s business.Lee was most happy to retire for the night.It had been a long day, pleasant for the most part, but he had not slept well the night before.As he was unlocking his door, a young college-aged boy in hotel uniform strode up to him and handed him a packet.“This came for you while you were at dinner, sir,” he said.**

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**Lee thanked him with a five-dollar bill and went into the room, shutting the door quietly.He inspected the room, just to be on the safe side and then slipped out of his shoes and collapsed on the bed.The packet contained information on his next stop.Fly out the next afternoon to Indianapolis and take a day to prepare for a 5 K race to be run the day after.Great, he thought.They didn’t start easy, did they?With that, Lee undressed and crawled into bed.He spent part of the next morning running the length of Park City, puffing like a steam engine after only a mile.He could have sworn that he saw several people shake their heads.**

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**Lee found it easier to run in the park near his hotel in Indianapolis and then realized that the altitude had to have had some part to play in his quick loss of stamina in Utah.The only bad thing was the increase in humidity, but all in all, he didn’t do that badly in the race.He wasn’t first, but certainly wasn’t last.**

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**The next nine days were endless rounds of flying and racing.Amsterdam, Salzburg, Tokyo, New Delhi.Lee never came in less than tenth, although he gained stamina as well as strength.He had to; otherwise, he’d be dead.Finally, after his twelfth place finish in the Delhi 10 K, he spent a day just resting in his hotel room wondering where the next race was.He should have word by now.His thoughts suddenly jolted.Race?When was this mysterious informant going to give him the information that was so vitally needed?If nothing else, he thought caustically, he was sick to death of high-energy drinks.His musings were disturbed by a knock at his door.**

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**Warily, he got up.There was a tingling on the back of his neck that he hadn’t experienced before and Lee felt this was the contact he had been waiting these two long weeks for.The knock came again.“Who is it?” he asked.**

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**“Mister Morris, I am Sankar Ajaamil,” came the answer.“Please let me in.I have information that will help you in your quest to win races.”** ****

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**Lee thought a moment, then realized that friend or foe, he had to let the Indian in.He opened the door a crack, gazed at the slender, dark-eyed man bowing slightly toward him and then motioned him in.He shut the door and bolted it behind him.Ajaamil walked toward the balcony, closed the narrow doors.Then he checked the rest of the room.Finally, he pulled out a device that Lee recognized as a scrambler.It would scramble signals into any kind of bug that might have been planted in his room.Ajaamil sat on the narrow bed and looked up at Lee.Without saying a word, the captain pulled up a wicker chair and sat facing the Indian.“So what is this information?” he asked bluntly.**

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**Also without saying anything, Ajaamil pulled out a small envelope.In it were several business cards and an identification card with Ajaamil’s picture on it.The ID was in Sanskrit and Lee supposed it to be the equivalent of a driver’s license.Several of the business cards were as well, but one made him do a double take.Not because of what it advertised, but because of the name and signature on the back.NIMR and the admiral’s signature.“Captain Crane, I have been sent to give you your next contact information.”** ****

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**“Where did you get this?” Lee asked, holding the business card up.He ignored the man’s reference to his real name.It had been hard to keep from doing a double take, he had so gotten used to being called Morris.**

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**Ajaamil chuckled.“From a very nice lady at your admiral’s institute, a secretary named Linda.”At Lee’s non-response, he went on.“Very pretty, in a Western sort of way, a blonde, blue-eyed woman, about in her mid-twenties.She said that you two had been on several dates, but she had decided that the _Seaview_ was too hard a lady to compete with.”** ****

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**Lee felt his cheeks growing warm.He remembered the conversation very well.Half of their dates had been curtailed by calls to return to the sub; some secret mission or something similar, to the point that Linda had said they could be friends, but that was it.He sighed, gazed meaningfully at Ajaamil and considered.Before his mind could conjure up some unpleasant alternatives to the fact that this man had the correct information from the correct source, the Indian continued.** ****

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**“I realize that all of this could have come from other sources, but perhaps, this might help.”Ajaamil leaned closer.“Admiral Nelson asked me to remind you that Farrell’s death was not your fault.He said to also remember that in the future as well.”** ****

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**Lee stifled a gasp.The reference to an incident where a crewmember had been shot by a firing squad because Lee had refused to make a propaganda statement had eaten at him for months.But he had never told a soul about his feelings until he had confided in the admiral.But what did he mean in the last statement?Lee wasn’t going to even go there.The last statement as well as the first was something Admiral Nelson would say.He leaned back.“Okay, your credibility just shot up a hundred fold, Mr. Ajaamil.What do I need to do now?”** ****

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**“Take this and then gather your things and follow me,” came the terse comment as the Indian handed him a small packet.Inside was a ticket to Katmandu and small piece of paper with an old-fashioned wax seal.The symbol looked a bit familiar, but he couldn’t place it right away.“That is your means of getting into a place that the tourists usually have no access to.You and a few others have been awarded a great honor,” Ajaamil explained quietly.“I will accompany you at least part of the way.”Lee nodded, continuing to study the wax embossed card.“Come, we do not have much time.”** ****

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**Crane ** **quickly got up, threw the few things not already in the suitcase on top of his other clothes.He gathered up his personal items, tossed them in and shut the lid.Not bothering to change, he just slid on and tied the running shoes that were definitely showing signs of wear.He could change to suit the different climate later.He picked up the suitcase and looked at Ajaamil.“Ready.”** ****

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**The Indian smiled.“I was told that you waste no time.Good.Let us keep our appointment with your spiritual advisor.”** ****

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**Lee started to say something, but stopped._Spiritual advisor?_Well, it would fit.Katmandu, Nepal, the exiled Dalai Lama.Interesting.** ****

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**==========================** ****

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**“Coded message, Admiral,” Linda said as she handed Nelson a small piece of paper.**

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**With a nod, he took it and scanned the contents.It was short and to the point.Lee was on his way to his next contact.There were several symbols at the bottom as there had been on all the other messages, but these were in slightly different order.This time the contact was Mendez._About time, _he thought.Now he might be able to get this information and compare notes.At the same time, he could put to rest the anxiety that threatened to give him ulcers.Lee would be safely back on the _Seaview_.He glanced out of the window of his office at the Nelson Institute of Marine Research and saw the bay where the submarine was currently at rest.**

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**“Is everything all right, Admiral?” Linda asked.She was a petite blonde, very capable secretary, who was quickly developing a talent for some of the covert activities that his personal secretary, Angie, had been doing for several years.**

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**Nelson started.“Oh, uh, yes.Everything seems to be going just as planned.”**

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**“Good,” she said with a slight sigh of relief.She hesitated.“I’m sorry.I know I shouldn’t be so nosy, but I have been worried about the captain.”** ****

**  
**

**“We all have, Linda.Everything will be all right.I’m sure of it.”She smiled softly.Her eyes seemed overly bright, and the admiral knew that she had feelings slightly more than co-worker’s concerns.He also knew that she was supposed to be much more in the dark about all this than he was, but she had the secretary’s innate understanding of things going on around her, so Nelson wasn’t the least bit surprised that she showed more knowledge than she should have.“I will let you know of any new developments,” he added.“At least those I can tell you.”** ****

**  
**

**Thank you, sir,” she said and then started toward her office.**

**  
**

**“Linda,” Nelson called after her.** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, Admiral?”** ****

**  
**

**“Put out a discreet call to the crew to return to the _Seaview,_” he said.** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, Admiral.”** ****

**  
**

**Nelson sat pondering for a few minutes and then got up, filling his briefcase with the papers he would need on the voyage.Taking his hat from the corner of his desk, he put it on and stepped out of his office.Soon he was walking through the concourse that led directly to the _Seaview_.A sailor saluted and he cursorily returned it.Chief Sharkey was pacing the control room.“Don’t you ever take leave?” Harriman asked.** ****

**  
**

**Sharkey smiled.“Yes, sir, I do, but this time I came back early.Don’t know why, just seemed the time to return.”** ****

**  
**

**“Well, your intuition was correct.There is a discreet call going out to the crew.We’ll be heading to sea as soon as everyone is on board,” Nelson said amiably.**

**  
**

**“As soon as a few of the men are back, we’ll run checks, Admiral.”** ****

**  
**

**“Good.That will save time.”With no further comment, Nelson headed for his cabin, where he went over, probably for the thousandth time, his notes, formulae and diagrams of his latest project.Finally, he headed toward the galley, where he quickly heated an individual sized casserole and sat and ate it, washing it down with a cup of instant coffee.**

**  
**

**Within a day and a half, the crew had returned.Within two days, the _Seaview_ was headed west, slicing through the Pacific with all the grace of a dolphin.**

**  
**

**===================================**

**  
**

**As the turbo-prop shuttle plane droned north toward Nepal, Crane tried to nap, but was too keyed up to do more than doze.He knew that this was the final contact and he also knew that this was where the real danger began.For all of the subterfuge, contacts, cover stories, Lee wondered again if it was going to be enough.Then Lee remembered the admiral asking that he trust him.So he would.At the very least, he would meet this contact and ask him about safeguards.Then, if he wasn’t satisfied, Lee would refuse to take the information.As ludicrous as that sounded after these past two weeks, he would rather go home empty-handed than to hand over important specifications to an enemy power.**

**  
**

**“The advisor will help you with your ambitions,” Ajaamil told him enigmatically.There were a few others onboard and even if there hadn’t been, the need for discretion always existed.**

**  
**

**“Hope so,” Lee countered.“I’m ready to win this one and head back home.”** ****

**  
**

**Ajaamil smiled.“The girl, Linda.She seemed very nice.Why did you stop . . . uh, what is the word?”** ****

**  
**

**“Dating?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, that is the word.”** ****

**  
**

**“Work.”Lee snorted, remembering Linda’s love/hate relationship with what he did for the ONI.** ****

**  
**

**“My work has increased tensions among my relatives,” Ajaamil commented.**

**  
**

**“Some work does that.I’m just not ready to settle down yet,” Lee replied.With that, he looked out the window toward the steadily rising mountains.They made the mountains of the Wasatch Front look like foothills.They were magnificent.He could well understand why many of those who lived in their shadow felt they were holy.As the plane gained altitude, Lee felt a bit of cold seeping into the cabin.Finally a voice, speaking one of the local languages, began giving information.**

**  
**

**“They are telling us that it will be only twenty minutes before we land.It is suggested that we put on our coats if we have not done so,” Ajaamil translated for Lee.The captain was only too happy to oblige.There was beginning to be a biting edge to the encroaching cold.It didn’t help that this was not summertime; it was the end of winter.**

**  
**

**The droning changed note and they heard the sound of the landing gear lowering.Lee looked out the window again and saw a mountaintop partially wreathed in clouds. He was surprised to see a fairly good-sized airport, near an equally good-sized city.**

**  
**

**“This is Katmandu, Mr. Morris.”**

**  
**

**“Very impressive….”** ****

**  
**

**“After we disembark, we will be taking a taxi into Bhaktapur, which is a short distance to the east from Katmandu, a little further into the mountains,” Ajaamil explained.“Your advisor is in Bhaktapur.”** ****

**  
**

**“Oh,” was all Lee could think of to say.Within minutes the plane had landed and as he stepped out onto the tarmac, Lee pulled the hood of his parka down over his face as much as he could against the biting wind blowing down from the mountain peaks above him.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Lee and Ajaamil claimed their luggage and then walked to the front of the terminal.It hadn’t taken long; this was not the best time of year for tourism and it wasn’t crowded.Somehow Crane was of the opinion that he might very well stick out like a sore thumb in this place and at this time of the year, but he wasn’t the one who had planned it.He could only suppose that his contact felt safer here at the far ends of the earth.**

**  
**

**Ajaamil hailed a taxi.The only way that Lee could tell it was a cab was the small, hand-painted logo in Nepalese on the door.Otherwise, it was an old beat-up Ford circa early 1950’s, probably put together with the local equivalent of bailing wire.He even felt the hard end of a spring in the seat when he got in.Shifting, he finally got comfortable as the driver sped off toward the destination Ajaamil had given.That was the only instance of speed that the taxi was able to maintain.Despite the weather, there were people about, most on foot, some on small mopeds.The streets were narrow--extremely narrow, and if Lee hadn’t been used to life on board a submarine, he might have felt claustrophobic.The high, multi-storied brick buildings seemed almost medieval.They drove past several large squares where Lee was able to glimpse pagodas, one of them monstrously high.He saw small displays, some with masks of extremely grotesque faces-- deities, the captain supposed.**

**  
**

**They continued on, still navigating through the narrow streets, but the houses seemed to be getting a bit smaller, the steep mountainsides closer.The driver soon pulled up in front of a temple that had the appearance of being a bit off the tourist path.It was still clean, but not as large and elegant as the other temples he had glimpsed.The taxi driver looked at them expectantly.Lee just shrugged.“Sorry, don’t have the local currency.”**

**  
**

**“Do you have American dollars?” Ajaamil asked with a smile.** ****

**  
**

**“Uh, well, yes, I do,” Lee responded.“I can pay in U.S. currency?”**

**  
**

**“Of course,” Ajaamil replied, his smile broader.**

**  
**

**Lee dug into his pocket and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill.He showed it to Ajaamil.“This enough?”**

**  
**

**“More than enough, Mr. Morris,” the Indian said, shaking his head.“You need only give him a five, maybe seven dollars at the most.”**

**  
**

**“That’s okay,” Lee said and handed the twenty to the cab driver.“I’ve taken cabs in Los Angeles.This was a bargain.”The man’s dark face crinkled in delight.He nodded and thanked Lee profusely in his native language.He jerked the hand brake and jumped out to get Lee’s suitcase.With a nod, Lee took it and then gazed at the entrance of the temple before them.They stepped into the front entrance and walked down a short hallway, that, in turn, opened up to a large room where sat a life-sized statue of what looked to be a local rendition of Buddha.Dark shadows danced on either side of the room and Lee glanced nervously around.It was too quiet.**

**  
**

**Then suddenly, somebody detached itself from one of the shadows and beckoned to them.Even in the dim light, the figure looked to be a monk, or someone dressed as one.Light colored material draped their host, covering all but his face and his lower arms and feet.Lee was amazed to see that the feet were bare.It had to be less than fifty degrees, even inside the temple.The figure beckoned again.So far everything had worked smoothly, so Lee had to trust that his luck would continue to hold.He stepped forward and heard Ajaamil at his side.The figure suddenly stopped them and motioned for the Indian to remain where he was.He turned to Lee.“You have something for me?”**

**  
**

**Crane pulled out the embossed card.The monk nodded in satisfaction and beckoned him to follow.**

**  
**

**“I suppose I will wait here with your luggage,” Ajaamil said sardonically.** ****

**  
**

**“I guess,” Lee responded, feeling a bit less sure about the situation.However, if this was the place where he got the information, he could understand why Mendez wouldn’t want anyone else in attendance.When the monk gestured again, he stepped forward.His guide, satisfied, turned and walked behind the statue.A small, dimly lit hallway curved toward a door that the monk opened and motioned for Lee to go through.Taking a breath, the captain did so and found himself in a darkened room.He stopped, wondering what to do next.The door clicked shut behind him and he pivoted, reaching.If the guide was in the room with him, he had moved silently out of his reach.** ****

**  
**

**“Mr. Morris, please walk slowly toward my voice.”** ****

**  
**

**The speaker spoke in a lightly accented voice, and Lee assumed that it was the scientist, Gerardo Mendez.There didn’t seem to be much choice, he began to step slowly, almost shuffling toward Mendez’ voice.There also didn’t seem to be much point in saying anything either.The scientist was in charge and would most likely answer questions when they were face to face.Lee continued to walk, hands outstretched.**

**  
**

**“Stop!That is close enough,” Mendez commanded.**

**  
**

**Lee stopped and waited.A bright light suddenly shone in his eyes and he threw up his arm in surprise.As soon as he became used to the light, he lowered his arm and gazed at the tall man in front of him.Mendez was probably an inch taller than he was; thin, with graying hair and intense brown eyes.Again Lee waited for the scientist to make the first move.**

**  
**

**“Please follow me,” Mendez said quietly.**

**  
**

**They went through another door and it was quickly apparent that this corridor was dug directly into the mountainside.The walls were smooth, but they were definitely solid rock.They walked for about twenty feet and then there was another door, one that looked like it was more suited to the _Seaview_ rather than inside a temple.Mendez undogged the hatch mechanism and opened the door.The figure that had led him into the dark room was waiting in a chamber about the size of the missile room.It was furnished conservatively and seemed to serve as a combination of living quarters and workroom.**

**  
**

**“Have a seat, Captain Crane,” the monk said, in flawless British English, pulling back his hood.**

**  
**

**The man appeared to be native Nepalese.Whether he was an actual monk, Lee couldn’t venture a guess.“Thank you,” Lee murmured.**

**  
**

**“Would you care for some tea?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, please.”He would have preferred coffee, but if nothing else, the tea would serve to warm him up a bit.The room seemed to have some heating, but it was minimal.**

**  
**

**Mendez pulled a chair close to the captain.“I was beginning to think that the planners of this rendezvous were not going to let us meet.”**

**  
**

**“May I see some identification, please?” Lee asked matter-of-factly.“You have the advantage of knowing me, but I don’t have the same advantage.”**

**  
**

**“Of course, Captain,” Mendez said with a smile.He produced a driver’s license, but Lee handed it back not totally satisfied.The scientist handed him an envelope.Opening it, Lee saw a hand written note from the admiral.It was coded in the cipher that Nelson had established for the two of them to be able to verify people in situations like this.Lee smiled.**

**  
**

**“Are you satisfied, Captain?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, Doctor.Perfectly.The admiral warned me not to accept anything edible from you,” Lee said wryly, not quite sure what the warning was about, but guessing.**

**  
**

**Mendez grinned and then began to laugh.Finally, he choked out, “I will let Pran do the honors, then.”He saw Lee’s slightly puzzled face and continued.“I like my food very spicy and my drinks strong.I have had neither since I have been here, so you are safe.”**

**  
**

**Lee smiled and nodded.“Now, could you explain what it is that I am going to take back to Admiral Nelson?”**

**  
**

**“Soon, Captain Crane.But I have been living in almost total seclusion for the past few months and I now have the opportunity to interact with someone, for however short a time it is.”Mendez turned to the monk, who was returning with a tray containing three mugs and a pot of steaming tea.“No offense, my friend.”**

**  
**

**“None taken,” the Nepalese replied.“Your jokes wear thin, perhaps the captain has some new ones.”**

**  
**

**Lee smiled.He found himself quickly liking these two men and was glad there was going to be some bantering before the business that had brought him to this place.He sipped his tea and found it to have a flavor he was totally unfamiliar with.“Excellent.What is it?”**

**  
**

**“A local blend that I put together myself,” Pran said, pulling up and chair and sitting near the two men.“And I will not divulge my secrets.I plan on packaging and selling it for money to make repairs to the temple.”**

**  
**

**Nodding, Lee drank the tea and then poured himself some more.**

**  
**

**“Is Harriman safe?” Mendez asked.** ****

**  
**

**“Last I heard,” Lee answered.“But then, I haven’t had contact for over two weeks.”**

**  
**

**“Good.I heard about the courier, Anderson, and worried about the others.This project is too important to end up in the hands of someone else and definitely too important to be allowed to die with us.”**

**  
**

**“I plan on getting your information back safely, Doctor,” Lee said with great conviction.** ****

**  
**

**“Our enemy is very cunning, I’m afraid.I sincerely hope you are right, for the admiral’s sake, for the future, and especially for you,” Mendez said, his voice losing its more light-hearted note.The scientist sighed.“Perhaps we’d better get the business done and then we can have something to eat.”**

**  
**

**Pran got up.“I will fix something appropriately delicious, gentlemen.”He looked at Lee.“Including something for your companion outside.”**

**  
**

**“Thank you, my friend.”Mendez beckoned to Lee.“Come with me.You will be receiving the information in a way that will make it much more difficult for any unauthorized individual to access.In fact, I would daresay that it would be impossible."** ****

**  
**

**Crane raised one eyebrow in question, but Mendez didn’t say anything.The scientist motioned for him to sit in a chair that looked a great deal like a doctor or dentist’s chair.Complying, Lee watched as Mendez walked over to another table.“At the sake of sounding skeptical, could you explain what you’re doing?”**

**  
**

**“You won’t be harmed in any way, Captain,” Mendez assured him.“It’s something else I have been working on.Pran has been my guinea pig and so I know it works.”**

**  
**

**“Just call me Lee, Doctor,” the captain said.He began to say something else, but the prick of a needle interrupted his question.Looking accusingly at Mendez, he immediately fell asleep.**

**  
**

**  
**

**It was the smell of food that woke him, rather than the voices that bantered nearby.**

**  
**

**“Ah, Doctor, the captain is awakening,” Pran said as though from the end of a tunnel.**

**  
**

**Lee tried to sit up, but the room was spinning too violently and he lay back down on the narrow bed.Mendez appeared at his side.“What the hell was that for?” Lee asked accusingly.**

**  
**

**“What I have put in your brain cannot be extracted by conventional means such as truth serums.However, anything we discuss, can,” Mendez said.“Please trust me when I tell you that you have what you came for and it will remain safe until you have returned to the United States.”The scientist held a cup to his lips and Lee drank from it.More of Pran’s tea, he realized.Whatever the Nepalese man put in it, the drink also seemed to have the effect of clearing his head.He felt a tiny incision at the base of his left ear, only noticed by the fact that something had felt different, but owing to Mendez’ secrecy, Lee chose not to ask about it.He figured what it must be anyway.**

**  
**

**Soon he was sitting up and a short time after that, he was cautiously making his way to a small table where a very delicious-looking dinner was waiting.The two men gazed at his progress with good-natured amusement, but were soon pointing out a variety of dishes for him to try.Lee was familiar with many of the world’s cuisines, but much of what was before him was unfamiliar.The rice he recognized and took some of that first.**

**  
**

**_“Baji_,” Pran said.“Flattened rice.It is good with the _chhoyla_, the spicy meat.I made it for the doctor here, but he claims it is too bland.”The Nepalese shook his head as Mendez laughed.Lee tried some and declared it good.“The only thing that he finds hot enough for his palate is _sanan_, the pickles,” Pran explained.“You might not want to try them.” **

**  
**

**But Lee was feeling adventurous, now that the goal of his mission had been attained and he was among friends.It was indeed hot and he choked, trying to take a deep breath, but when the fire in his mouth waned, he still found it to be quite good.There were several other dishes and he tried at least a small amount of each one, washing them down with what Mendez called _thon_, a sort of local rice beer.Finally, he sighed and leaned back in his chair.“Excellent, Pran.You should market this, too.”**

**  
**

**The monk smiled.“If I was in the United States, perhaps.But these are commonplace here, Captain.”**

**  
**

**“Nevertheless, it’s the best meal I’ve had since I started all this globe-hopping.”** ****

**  
**

**“I will be sorry to see you go, Lee,” Mendez said, almost dismissively.** ****

**  
**

**“Personally, except for the fact that I miss the _Seaview_, I am sorry I have to leave, too.I have enjoyed this short time immensely.”He gazed at Mendez’ wistful expression.“I suppose I need to leave quite soon.”**

**  
**

**Mendez sighed.“Yes.We just don’t know how much our enemies are able to figure out from your travels, but if you stay here too long without reason….”**

**  
**

**“Yeah, I know,” Lee said sardonically.“I guess one session with the spiritual advisor is enough to get me on the road home.I was really not looking forward to another 10 K race.”**

**  
**

**Mendez chuckled.“Not a great cover for a submarine captain, is it?But take heart, you will be flying from here to Taiwan and there you will board a plane for Hawaii where you will meet the_ Seaview_.”**

**  
**

**Lee smiled.“Good.I’m ready to change back into my uniform and do something normal, like take the boat on a deep dive.”**

**  
**

**A short time later, Lee left the temple with Ajaamil, who had waited patiently through the afternoon in the inner courtyard.The Indian did not accompany him on the flight this time.It was a longish flight, owing to the looping southerly route to avoid flying over the People’s Republic of China and Lee dozed off several times.Finally, though, they landed and he headed toward the airline information desk to get his tickets for the flight to Honolulu.He informed the airline agent who he was.**

**  
**

**“Mr. Jeffrey Morris?” the young Chinese man repeated.**

**  
**

**“Yes, from Santa Barbara,” Lee answered.“I should have tickets waiting for me.”**

**  
**

**“May I see your passport, please?And other identification.”**

**Lee frowned, wondering what was going on.He had never been asked for this much identification from an agent before.Something political happening that he hadn’t heard about?He dug out his ID’s and handed them over to the young man.**

**  
**

**Instead of handing them back, the man said, “There is an irregularity.Will you come with me?”**

**  
**

**“What kind of irregularity?I was told that I would have tickets waiting for me.”Alarm was warring with irritation.**

**  
**

**“Please come with me and my superiors will explain everything.”**

**  
**

**Lee hesitated.**

**“You will either accompany me willingly, sir, or I will have to call security.”** ****

**  
**

**The alarm bells claxoned in Lee’s mind and he simply turned and sprinted for the terminal entrance.He never made it.Someone blindsided him only twenty feet from the main entrance and at the same time, he felt the sting of a hypodermic needle in his upper arm.Then there was nothing.**


	5. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 4**

**  
**

**  
**

**“Coded message, Admiral,” Sparks called out.** ****

**  
**

**Nelson quickly walked the length of the control room and grabbed the piece of paper.As he read, his hand began to tremble.“Dammit,” he whispered.His worst fears had been realized.Despite all the precautions, it had happened….** ****

**  
**

**“What is it, Admiral?” Chip Morton asked.He had seen the stricken look on his superior’s face.“Are you all right, sir?”** ****

**  
**

**“I’m fine,” Nelson answered hesitantly before continuing.“But Captain Crane was abducted from the Taipei Airport,” he added, tonelessly.At the same time he crumpled the paper and threw it onto the worktable.**

**  
**

**The only sounds in the control room for the next few minutes were the clicking and pinging sounds of the machinery.“What are your orders, sir?” Morton asked quietly, his stomach churning from sudden anxiety.** ****

**  
**

**“None,” Nelson responded tonelessly.**

**  
**

**“What do you mean, none, Admiral?Shouldn’t we be heading to Taiwan?” Morton asked angrily.Then in a quieter voice, “Did he get the information?”** ****

**  
**

**The admiral chose to ignore the first questions; the outburst had been a knee jerk reaction of a man fearing the worst for his friend.“Yes, he did.”** ****

**  
**

**Morton looked at him curiously for a moment.“Did you know this was going to happen?”He tried to keep his voice as emotionless as the admiral’s, but he couldn’t keep his suspicions from his face.**

**  
**

**“No!”But there was an apprehensive pause before the admiral continued.“I had believed, hoped all the precautions would have prevented this,” Nelson said, his eyes still on his hand, willing it to stop trembling.He closed the fingers into a fist.** ****

**  
**

**“You mean that two plus weeks of no contact, sir?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, Commander.”The admiral finally looked into the XO’s face, saw the doubts.“Chip, I didn’t know much more than the rest of you.This was planned by different people at ONI and I had only minimal input.They wouldn’t have given me as many updates as we got, had I not raised holy hell.”Nelson stopped, aware that he sounded like he was making excuses._Am I?_Probably.His conscience had been jerking his stomach into knots from the moment Lee had rowed the raft away from the _Seaview_.**

**  
**

**“But it was a pretty sure possibility, wasn’t it, Admiral?” Morton said accusingly, his eyes hardening.Then he gasped and opened his mouth to speak.**

**  
**

**“Don’t, Commander,” Nelson said warningly.“Not now.”** ****

**  
**

**Morton closed his mouth but still gazed at his superior, struggling to temper his anger.**

**  
**

**Nelson was pretty sure he knew what was on Morton’s mind._Lee was set up.He was sacrificed to stop another crackpot dictator, spy, government._And Morton was right.Harriman had been deluding himself if he had even hoped otherwise.The information was so very vital that he had believed that this was the ultimate, the penultimate goal; that nothing else mattered.However, it seemed that there were those in the government who felt that the information was secondary to finding out who had killed Anderson, and who had been stealing scientific and weaponry secrets for the past year._Was it? No, it wasn’t.A man’s life is never worth that kind of sacrifice.Damn them!_Harriman could only hope that the safeguards he had been told about would keep Lee safe until they or someone else could rescue him.He walked over to the chart table and gazed at the map of the Pacific Ocean.He quickly found Taipei, Taiwan and looked over the expanse where Lee might be right now.“Commander, give me a bit more time, then I will be able to explain everything I know about this operation.I’ll be in my cabin.”** ****

**  
**

**“Aye, sir,” Morton said, his anger under control for the moment.He avoided the surreptitious glances of everyone in the control room.The XO didn’t often lose his equilibrium like that—and Chip had lost it quite spectacularly.A half an hour later, one of the mess hands brought a tray with fresh mugs of coffee.After everyone had gotten a cup, the commander took the tray.There were two mugs left.“Take the conn, Mr. O’Brien.”** ****

**  
**

**Quickly making his way to the admiral’s cabin, he knocked.At the tired sounding ‘come in,’ Morton entered and approached a desk littered with memos, blueprints and innumerable scrawled notes.“Coffee, Admiral.It’s fresh.”His anger and frustration had cooled considerably in the past thirty minutes.**

**  
**

**Nelson nodded, but didn’t look up.He was trying to put together what he had of the new propulsion unit specifications, but he wasn’t able to concentrate.Lee held the missing piece; the part that would make this all work._Why can’t I figure it out from what I already have? _he wondered._And where are they taking Lee?_** ****

**  
**

**“I’ve been thinking about what you said, Admiral.I apologize for being so, uh, rude.”** ****

**  
**

**Nelson finally looked at the steaming mug, then at Morton.Everyone had been on edge lately.Everyone was worried.“No, Chip, I don’t blame you for your frustration.It only matches the frustration I’ve been feeling.”Morton was looking at the blueprints.**

**  
**

**“This….” Morton began, his finger tracing the outline of an ion conversion generator.A call on the intercom, along with Nelson’s warning look, cut him off.** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, Sparks,” he said.** ****

**  
**

**“Another message, Admiral.They request it code private, your eyes only,” Sparks said, his voice anxious.** ****

**  
**

**Nelson nodded and motioned to Morton.This was too soon.Something was wrong and the time for absolute secrecy was over.He had allowed himself to be pulled along in the ebb and flow of this mission for too long without giving his men any kind of information, regardless of what ONI had told him.“Stick around, Mr. Morton,” he said.Then Nelson motioned for Chip to lock the door as he strode over to the communications panel in one corner of his room.“Send it through, Sparks.”Nelson gave his high priority, top-level security code and waited.It didn’t take long.The combination of Cyrillic and alpha-numeric figures began printing and he started translating in his head even as the printer continued sending the message.His breath caught in his throat and he lost his train of thought.Mentally shaking, Nelson forced himself to concentrate.Finally, the machine stopped and lay silent.** ****

**  
**

**Nelson jerked the communiqué from the printer and took it to his desk.He pulled a cigarette from the pack by his elbow, but didn’t light it.The paper lay in front of him, accusing him.He rubbed his sleep-deprived eyes and sighed.**

**  
**

**Morton had stood quietly, knowing that information would be forth-coming since he had been admitted to the “inner sanctum” as the men were want to call Nelson’s cabin.** ****

**  
**

**“A bit of background, Chip and then I’ll give you the update,” the admiral said, as he lit the cigarette and took a steadying drag.Morton looked surprised, but Nelson ignored the XO’s gaze.Jamie would dress him down later for backing down on his vow to quit smoking, but right now, he didn’t really care.“I, and several other scientists have been working on a highly secret project for some months.When we first began we were able to meet together publicly.”** ****

**  
**

**“The Helsinki Conference, sir?” Morton asked.**

**  
**

**Nelson nodded, feeling a quick touch of pleasure at the astuteness of his men.“That was when we found out we were all working on the same project.Then one of the scientists, Henderson, was attacked; a kidnapping attempt, we believe.”Another puff of the cigarette.“We began meeting two at a time, using couriers to compare notes when we couldn’t meet.Then the couriers started disappearing.Dr. Delacroix was killed in yet another kidnapping attempt.”He paused and looked steadily at the younger man.“It was quite apparent that someone wants this information quite badly—and with good reason.What we are developing is so revolutionary, so radical that the government, company or man who owns it could very well become the most powerful entity on earth.”** ****

**  
**

**“Does it have to do with the proposed changes in the Flying Sub’s propulsion system, Admiral?” Morton asked softly.**

**  
**

**Again Nelson felt that bit of pride.“Very astute, Chip.It became harder and harder to compare notes.Very highly trained espionage experts were involved by now, but even then there were problems.Henderson went under cover and then the spy who contacted him disappeared.**

**  
**

**“So the captain was tapped to be the next courier,” Morton said.** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, Chip, he was, but for more than just a trusted courier.This was Dr. Mendez Lee was to contact; the man, I believe, who has the key to breaking the roadblock that I and the rest of us have experienced.”He paused again, then crushed the half-finished cigarette in an ashtray.It shredded under the force of his frustration.“The last time we had been able to meet was at the institute about three months ago.I had told him my problem and Mendez began thinking right there. I got word last month that he had found the solution.”** ****

**  
**

**“But that wasn’t all,” Morton prompted.**

**  
**

**“No,” the admiral said softly, looking again at his message.“The government felt it imperative that whoever was getting this information, whoever was killing couriers, spies and scientists alike, was highly dangerous and needed to be caught.”** ****

**  
**

**“It’s not the Republic?”** ****

**  
**

**“No, not this time.At least I don’t think so.The ONI thinks this person or persons is some new threat.”** ****

**  
**

**“So Lee was supposed to be abducted,” Morton mused aloud.** ****

**  
**

**“I didn’t want to believe it.I was told that wasn’t the ultimate goal, only a possibility.”He pulled out another cigarette.“But I contacted ONI just a little while ago.Raised hell and was told that they had more or less hoped Lee would be contacted by these unknowns.So, I’m afraid it was.I saw the signs, but didn’t want to believe them,” he added, his voice tight with anguish.** ****

**  
**

**Morton sighed.“Did Lee suspect?”** ****

**  
**

**Harriman nodded.“Probably had a better handle on what would happen than I did.”** ****

**  
**

**“Why Lee?” Morton asked, his voice rising in anger again._How could they do this?Damn them!!_**

** **

** _  
_ ** ****

**Nelson knew it wasn’t directed at him this time, but at the situation.“I was told it was because Captain Crane had proven himself so resourceful in these kinds of assignments before,” he replied, gazing deeply into his subordinate’s eyes.“I have been thinking that there was more to it than just Lee’s ingenuity and talents,” Nelson said.“I suspect that it was mainly because of his position on the _Seaview_ and his proximity to me and the research.”** ****

**  
**

**“A particularly rich prize,” Morton said bitterly.**

**  
**

**“I’m afraid so,” Nelson murmured.His stomach knotted as he admitted aloud what he had been afraid to admit for the past two weeks.** ****

**  
**

**Morton said nothing for some time.“If the captain was meant to be captured then there had to be some kind of failsafe.Some way to track him or find him,” the younger man said, his voice hopeful.** ****

**  
**

**Nelson knew what close friends the two men had become during Lee’s command.It was even deeper than it had been when they were midshipmen at Annapolis.At times it seemed that the various components of the two men’s personalities meshed and complimented one another perfectly.Lee’s determined and courageous drive, his in-your-face devotion to duty, incredibly defined sense of right and wrong, and Morton’s cautious, measured, steady capability, his calm willpower.It made the information he had all the more difficult.But, again, Nelson knew the time for subversive secrecy was well past.The admiral was afraid that it would take them all working together to save Captain Crane.“There were two things, actually,” he said.“First, the information that Lee received was implanted in such a way that conventional methods of extracting information won’t work.And it was planted deep into his subconscious in a way that even he has no earthly idea what it is.”Morton started to pace.“The other was a very tiny device, a transmitter, that would allow ONI, and ultimately us, to track Lee’s progress and destination.It was implanted the same time that the information was.”** ****

**  
**

**“Then why aren’t we going after him instead of sitting here off the South American coast?” Morton asked impatiently.Lee was out there somewhere and he was in trouble.** ****

**  
**

**“Because the supposedly undetectable tracking device was discovered a short time after the kidnapping and destroyed,” Nelson said bluntly.** ****

**  
**

**“What?”** ****

**  
**

**“Apparently this power is more clever than the ONI.”** ****

**  
**

**“Are you saying that we have no way of finding Lee?” Morton asked.** ****

**  
**

**“I didn’t say that, Chip.”Nelson lit the second cigarette, but immediately stubbed it out.“We know that he was apprehended in Taipei.Also we know that the plane was a small, private jet, one that could fly only a certain distance.”** ****

**  
**

**“They could change planes,” Morton interrupted.**

**  
**

**“They could, but I have several reasons why I don’t think they did,” Nelson said, pointing to a chair.Morton’s pacing was making him nervous.“The previous courier, a CIA operative at the top of the game, showed up dead in Hawaii.He wasn’t killed there but the body was dumped on a remote beach to muddle things.Personally, I think that this unknown, while apparently wealthy, doesn’t have unlimited resources.I believe the jet is non-stop….”Harriman stopped abruptly.“No, it would have to refuel somewhere.We can use that.”He rubbed his chin in thought, his eyes glittering with determination.“We’ve laid tracks, trails and deep, dark spy scenarios enough to confuse the Joint Chiefs of Staff.I feel that whoever this is won’t do that.He or she has been anonymous and very, very clever.I think our enemy is in the Pacific somewhere.”** ****

**  
**

**“But where, sir?”** ****

**  
**

**“I don’t know, Chip, but I think if we do some good old-fashioned research we’ll find some red flags and ultimately find Captain Crane,” Nelson said fervently.** ****

**  
**

**“But in the meantime, they’ll try to extract this information in the conventional ways,” Morton said, almost shivering at what his imagination was showing him.“Including torture.”** ****

**  
**

**Nelson shook his head.“We are only assuming that.Why would someone torture a person they depend on for important information?They might use truth drugs on him, but I doubt they would use anything so crude as physical torture.”He sighed and gazed intently at his acting first officer.“And we all knew when we signed up for this duty what it entailed.As well as what could happen.”** ****

**  
**

**“I know, Admiral,” Morton said, frustrated.“I know.”** ****

**  
**

**“We’ll find him, Chip,” Nelson said with conviction.“We always have.We won’t let Lee down now.”**

**  
**

**Morton nodded.“Do you want me to do some triangulation work on that jet’s last known position?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes.I’ll give you the data ONI has already sent me and I’ll get more details.Use it’s direction and whatever information you can find on its range,” Nelson directed.“I believe we are talking about any place between the Indo China Sea and southern New Zealand.”** ****

**  
**

**“Aye, Admiral.”Morton turned to leave.**

**  
**

**“And Chip.”Morton stopped in his tracks, his hand on the doorknob.“Lay in the quickest course to the Institute.”** ****

**  
**

**“Institute, Admiral?”** ****

**  
**

**“Old fashioned research has to be done in a facility with enormous resources.The _Seaview_ is most likely being monitored.I can’t risk requesting information electronically,” Nelson explained.** ****

**  
**

**“Aye, aye, sir,” Morton said, then he hesitated.**

**  
**

**“Carry on, Chip.That’s all we can do for now.That and pray.”** ****

**  
**


	6. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 5**

**  
**

**Captain Lee Crane woke up in a small room that greatly resembled a standard motel room, except there were no windows.A burly Polynesian stood guard in front of the door.The two men gazed at one another for a moment and then the guard tapped on the door without taking his eyes off his prisoner.Lee started to sit up, but sharp pain shooting through his head made him lay back down again with a groan.** ****

**  
**

**Lee lay quietly for a moment, massaging his forehead, then he slowly sat up.The pounding in his skull had decreased to the volume of one horse and not the entire herd and he glanced around.He eyes once more fell on the Polynesian guard and Lee took in, not only the man’s size, but also the very effective side arm strapped to his ample waist.“Obviously this isn’t the Marriott, is it?” he tried conversationally.The guard raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.He stood resolute with his arms folded over his chest.**

**  
**

**Deciding on a slightly different approach, he said, “I don’t know if you realize this, but kidnapping is a federal offense in the United States.I think you need to let your boss know that I can make it very unpleasant for him—or her.Name’s Jeffrey Morris and I do have connections.”The guard remained resolute and silent.“I demand to see your boss!”Still nothing.Slowly, he stood up; ignoring the added pain that such movement gave him.The guard watched him carefully, but said and did nothing.Lee rubbed the back of his neck and discreetly felt a small bandage behind one ear.Could only be the transmitter that Mendez alluded to.Apparently it had been found.But had the _Seaview_ or someone else had enough time to track him?He could only hope so.“I might also press charges for assault, too,” he said tersely, taking his hand away from his neck.** ****

**  
**

**Lee was beginning to wonder if the Polynesian even knew English, and he made his previous demand in the little French he knew.There was still no response.Still trying to stay in character, Lee glowered at his captor for a moment longer and then shrugged and slowly walked around the small room.What appeared to be a tiny closet turned out to be a bathroom.He went in and pulled the sliding door closed.There was still no response from the guard.Apparently they were confident that he couldn’t do anything about his captivity.**

**  
**

**Looking around, he decided they were right.His clothes had been taken from him and replaced with a lightweight, light blue pair of pants and a white shirt.Standard jail clothing, he thought wryly.There were no pockets; he had no shoes on.There was absolutely nothing around him to use as a weapon.With a sigh, Lee returned to the main room.**

**  
**

**“Come with me,” the guard said, his English stilted and heavily accented, but understandable.** ****

**  
**

**“Where am I?” Lee asked, not moving.** ****

**  
**

**“Come with me, or I carry you,” the guard growled.**

**  
**

**Lee didn’t doubt the big Polynesian could carry out his threat.So he simply nodded and preceded the burly man out of the room.They walked down a corridor that could have been any rich owner’s mansion.It was not air-conditioned but large fans moved air that had the tang of ocean salt.They were near the sea, he thought with some small satisfaction.He was led into a room that was open on one side, but it was dark, so he could see little beyond the two torches that burned at each end of the balcony.Just within the flickering light, Lee saw coconut palms fluttering and the dull boom of surf beat in his ears.**

**  
**

**Before him was a fairly large table, enough to seat a dozen people, but only one man sat there.His blue eyes gazed at him expectantly as though Lee was delivering a health stock dividend.Almost hungrily, the captain thought.He appeared to have a slight amount of Polynesian ancestry, but the eyes and only slightly wavy brown hair bespoke of other lineage.**

**  
**

**“Captain Crane, come sit down,” the man said, nodding to a place sitting to his right.**

**  
**

**Lee thought it stranger that his host kept his hands on his lap, than that he knew who he really was, but he ignored both for the moment.He stopped, gazed behind him at the guard, and affected an irritated countenance as he turned back to his host.“Captain Crane?” his voice raised in incredulity.“Got the wrong man.I’m Jeffrey Morris.Engineer, not –so-hot runner.”He studied the other man carefully.“Definitely the wrong man, uh . . . who are you?”** ****

**  
**

**“Kevin Matai Bomar,” his host stated softly, “And believe me, I have the right man, Captain.”** ****

**  
**

**This statement told Lee several things.First, the man was working on his own, not part of a government network, second, that he was very, very smart to have spirited him away from all the hoopla of his cover, and third, Bomar had no intention of letting Lee leave this place alive.“Well, Mr. Bomar, you seem to have your mind made up, but let me tell you, my bosses are going to be extremely unhappy when I miss my next deadlines,” Lee replied, half-heartedly.For some reason, he knew he was beating a dead drum and it wouldn’t do a bit of good.** ****

**  
**

**Bomar laughed as a young girl came into the room carrying two plates of food.“Captain, if you are talking about the real Jeffrey Morris, be aware that his deadlines have been more than adequately met and that he felt the necessity of going to Las Vegas and celebrating even as you were in Nepal.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee kept a non-committal look on his face even if he was seething inside._The idiot! _he thought. **

**  
**

**“And as to your real boss, Admiral Harriman Nelson, I suspect that he will be extremely happy, knowing that the trap has been sprung on the sacrificial lamb.The only thing that he’ll be unhappy about is that we found the means he was planning on using to find you.”Bomar laughed again, even as Lee tried to keep his composure.“Yes, the information you carry is considered secondary to the desire to find out who I am, Captain.But enough of that.Sit down; eat.I’m sure you are very hungry.It’s been almost ten hours since you arrived and it was such a long trip from Taipei.”** ****

**  
**

**This time it was a very hard struggle to keep a neutral face.He wanted to leap forward and strangle Bomar.To insinuate that the admiral not only knew, but wanted Lee captured was ludicrous.But then Nelson had acted rather strange—almost guilty.Why?_No!If the admiral had known that the main purpose of this was his capture, he would’ve given me some clue.He only said it was a possibility.Any mission like this held that possibility.But then why all the warning about dangers and why did he act like he was sending him to his own funeral.Simply because he was worried, not because he knew what ONI’s ulterior purpose was.And who was to say this was ONI’s sole purpose?_Mentally shaking such thoughts from his mind, Lee continued to stand there, gazing at Bomar, hopefully with something less than indignation showing on his face.The burly Polynesian laid his hand on the captain’s shoulder and pushed him forward.**

**  
**

**“It doesn’t do to defy Na’alu.He is as devoted to me as he was to my dear, departed wife.”** ****

**  
**

**With a shrug, Lee walked to the chair and sat down.**

**  
**

**“Good, Captain.”Bomar looked at the guard.“Bring some of our best, Na’alu.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee looked around and saw another guard at the door.**

**  
**

**“All of these delicacies are locally caught or raised,” Bomar went on.“You will quickly see, should you desire to accept my hospitality, that I can provide the very best, Captain Crane.”He paused and smiled.“Dig in,” he coaxed.**

**  
**

**Lee hesitated.That they had already tried truth serum seemed likely.Tried and failed, he thought smugly.But what about the comments about the admiral?He couldn’t get Bomar’s accusations from his mind.Nelson couldn’t have just been doing this to catch Bomar.Granted, Lee could admit that the admiral might have known that catching the person who had been after the scientists’ secrets was something the government desired, but that it was the main purpose?Somehow Lee couldn’t believe that of the admiral.He could only believe that it was a suspicion, just as it had been for him.And he could only imagine that if it was ONI’s main purpose, Admiral Nelson had been kept in the dark, just as he had.**

**  
**

**“If I had wanted to poison you, Captain, I would have done so before you ever set foot on Hikeru.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee couldn’t fault that.He had to admit reluctantly, aided by his ever more insistently growling stomach, that he was hungry.But he wasn’t ready to give in quite yet.“Maybe, but I wouldn’t put anything past someone who would kill people just to get industrial secrets.”** ****

**  
**

**Bomar leaned forward and studied him intently.“Somehow I think you minimize the importance of what your admiral and his friends have been working on and developing in secret, and trying to keep from the rest of the world.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee laughed.“Maybe they’re working in secret because of people like you, Bomar.”** ****

**  
**

**Hard lines appeared around Bomar’s mouth, but with effort, he forced them away.“I would really like for you to see the merits of working with me. It would be so much more lucrative than anything Nelson, his institute or the United States Navy could offer you.”**

**“I doubt it,” Lee said with a shrug.“But even the wealth of the all the billionaires in the world couldn’t cause me to change my affiliations, Mr. Bomar.And I doubt you’re that rich in any case.”**

**  
**

**Bomar finally reached toward his plate and picked up a piece of some kind of fruit.His captor kept his eyes fixed on Lee’s and the captain found that disconcerting.Again, he had the funny feeling that Bomar was eyeing him more hungrily than any of the delicacies on the plate.**

**  
**

**“Give me what I want and you will be my partner.You will be able to command fleets.Maybe even to the stars.And your allegiance is hollow.They have hung you out to dry, Captain.”**

**  
**

**The predatorial look increased._The stars?What the hell is the admiral working on? Nah, this guy has to be delusional.Time to end this party,_ Lee decided, his anger increasing.He knew that the _Seaview_ or some ONI agent had been attempting to track him.If he could get away from Bomar, either hide somewhere or smuggle out on a plane or ship, he could contact the _Seaview_ or NIMR.Again, he remembered Bomar’s comment that his sacrifice had been pre-eminent in this mission, not the information that he was sent for.Could the information just be something made up by ONI for this purpose?No, Lee knew that was wrong as soon as the thought came into his mind.Again, the admiral would never do that to him.It wasn’t important right now, anyway.What was most important was escape.If he was supposed to have been captured, then it was still his duty to escape with the information that the government needed about this nut case, Bomar.**

**  
**

**Na’alu returned with two wine bottles.Bomar nodded his head and the guard poured some of a golden liquid in two wine glasses.Lee gazed at it.He had never seen a wine quite like it before.** ****

**  
**

**“A mixture of local fruits, Captain.Try it.”Bomar lifted his glass to his lips and drank some of the liquid, studying Lee over the rim of the glass.Hesitantly, Lee picked up his goblet and tried a sip.It was surprisingly good.Still he left the meal untouched and set the glass down.There was something about accepting too much of the enemy’s hospitality.**

**  
**

**“I am sorry that you choose not to share my bounties, Captain,” Bomar said, his voice becoming a bit petulant.He rose to his feet.Bomar was about his height, but a little heavier, keeping one hand in his pocket while gesturing with the other.He walked to the patio, inviting Lee to join him.** ****

**  
**

**As he got up, Lee chose to be blunt.“I was kidnapped, drugged and dragged to some island in the middle of nowhere and you want me to indulge at your table, Mr. Bomar?To join in your endeavours?You’ve heard what they say about feeding sharks.”** ****

**  
**

**“Are you saying you are a shark?” Bomar asked, his voice cold.**

**  
**

**“No, but I have no intention of taking handouts from one either,” Lee said brusquely.Soft breezes plucked at Lee’s shirt and hair and he saw that this part of the house was perched on the side of a mountain, the patio on stilts.No escape this way, but a surreptitious glance showed that the second guard had left the room.Only Na’alu remained, stationed five feet behind.** ****

**  
**

**“I will let that insult pass, Captain, because of the conditions of your being here.But please understand that I know your worth.I also know what a talented and resourceful man you are.Dedicated and loyal.I like that and want that when I increase the boundaries of my holdings and wealth.”He paused and leaned over the balcony.“Hikeru is small in the scheme of things, but mighty in everything else.”** ****

**  
**

**Keep ‘em talking, Lee thought.“What do you mean by that?”** ****

**  
**

**“I have built this small backward island, making it a place of tremendous potential for the future.Nothing is imported, except new technologies and ideas.I do not need oil or other non-renewable resources.We use what we have here.”** ****

**  
**

**“Very resourceful, Mr. Bomar, but industry requires buildings.Buildings require raw materials,” Lee said, somewhat skeptical.**

**  
**

**Bomar laughed.“Buildings?We have the insides of the mountains, Captain.”Bomar studied Lee again.“Or may I call you Lee?”** ****

**  
**

**“But this house doesn’t appear to be made out of palm fronds and coconut wood,” Lee countered, ignoring the last question.** ****

**  
**

**“You are right.I have brought in some materials.Volcanic islands do not provide everything.But it provides much.And you, if you choose to work with me, will provide the rest.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee decided it was time to end this farce and blow this party.He had noticed, by the soft glow of the tiki-like torches, that one side of the patio was only eight feet above the slope of the mountain.That was where he would have his best chance.With no warning, he sprinted toward the far end of the patio, shoving aside a chair.He reached the railing and grabbed it, ready to vault down to the mountain slope.But when he touched the metal rail, he felt a jolt that took the breath from his lungs and threw him backward, right into Na’alu’s arms.The giant Polynesian held him in an iron grip, one arm around his neck, only giving him enough air to stay alive.**

**  
**

**As Lee tried to suck in air, Bomar appeared in front of him, his face only inches from him.“I had hoped that you would be a willing partner, but I was hoping for too much, I guess.I will get what I want from you, only by the time I do, you will sincerely regret that you didn’t give willingly.”** ****

**  
**

**“Hell will freeze over on all counts, Bomar,” Lee gasped.**

**  
**

**At a gesture from his boss, Na’alu’s arm tightened.**

**  
**

**“Let him feel my full welcome,” Bomar told the guard, opening the door.“Then perhaps he might be willing to give me what I want.”With a grunt, Na’alu released his choke hold and walked through, with Lee’s arm tight in his grasp.They walked back through the corridor, but didn’t stop at the small room where he had awakened.Rather they continued onward, finally stopping at an elevator.Na’alu shoved him in and followed.Still shaky, Lee offered no resistance.He was unaware of how far the elevator dropped, but probably not more than the equivalent of two floors.When it shuddered to a stop, they were in a tunnel, improved somewhat from the original cave.**

**  
**

**Na’alu pushed Lee out of the elevator and herded him along the moisture slick corridor to a room that must have once been a small cavern.Lee saw a bank of computers on one side, although how they kept the moisture from doing damage, he couldn’t guess.There were several chairs, some small and utilitarian, others larger, with restraints. Another side of the room seemed to be equipped for a doctor.There were exam tables, cabinets with medicines, even a large table that appeared to be for experiments.“Welcome to Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory,” Lee muttered.**

**  
**

**Na’alu shoved him into one of the larger chairs and fastened a band that went around his chest before he could make a move or even protest.Lee grabbed at the band as the guard walked behind the chair.His left hand grasped the metal arm of the chair as he tried to pull forward to loosen the hold of the restraint.He struggled as the Polynesian went to a console near the door.Suddenly, Lee screamed out in shock and pain, and jerked his hand from the chair.Blisters were already forming on the burnt flesh.It was as though he had laid his hand on a stove’s hot plate, but there had been no warning glow.It had suddenly become hotter than fire.He held his injured hand by the wrist with his good one, trying to think of a way to ease the excruciatingly throbbing pain.The smell of burned flesh was nauseating.** ****

**  
**

**Na’alu grabbed Lee’s good hand, trying to force if toward a similar plate at the end of the right arm of the chair.Lee fought as hard as he could, his breath coming in ragged gasps, but it was the ringing of a phone that saved him.Na’alu let go of his arm and walked away from Lee.After picking up the receiver and listening, the guard grunted a few words, replaced the phone and took up a casual watch near the door.**

**  
**

**Lee let his injured hand rest in his lap while he worked at the band.It didn’t matter that the guard was now sitting leisurely in a chair watching him; he had to get out of this modern rendition of a medieval torture chamber.He looked around, trying to see what he could use as a weapon should he get loose.**

**  
**

**But he couldn’t get loose, Lee realized.The band was too strong and he had too quickly allowed himself to be incapacitated.The intense throbbing in his hand added to the nightmarish quality of this whole episode.As he was trying, unsuccessfully to shove the searing pain into the background, the door that he had entered earlier opened.Na’alu jumped to his feet as a small man in a white lab coat entered.**


	7. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 6**

**  
**

**  
**

**Bomar glared at the door through which his prisoner had been led.His crippled hand trembled in his pocket.Finally, he turned away, growling a curse. A few minutes later, the door opened softly._Mendon_.“Well?” he snapped.**

**  
**

**“I knew he wouldn’t jump to your side, Mr. Bomar.He is absolutely loyal to Nelson, that submarine and his crew, as well as to his country.Captain Lee Crane cannot be bought.” **

**  
**

**Bomar took a deep breath and turned to face the doctor.Mendon was short, barely over five feet tall, his light brown hair was clipped short, almost to the point of baldness.His blue eyes were large and round, as though in a state of perpetual surprise.He had picked up the glass that Crane had left and was stroking his meticulously trimmed beard with long, thin fingers.** ****

**  
**

**“Then he will have to be broken and the information taken by force!” Bomar shouted.“I will have that information, Mendon.I have most of the components….”** ****

**  
**

**“But Mendez and Nelson have the rest,” Mendon added.**

**  
**

**“I think that Nelson’s information was duplicated by the others.Which means that what we got from Delacroix is pretty much the same as what Nelson has. I also know that the admiral was working closely with Mendez on something that was holding up the completion of the propulsion unit.” Bomar clenched his good fist.“And Mendez gave Crane that information.”He studied Mendon.“Why couldn’t you get it with the truth serum?”** ****

**  
**

**“Apparently they have developed a means of deep conscious information implanting,” Mendon said, almost to himself.“I used a small dosage when the jet came in.”** ****

**  
**

**“You will get the information!” Bomar responded, his voice rising again.** ****

**  
**

**“It will take some work,” Mendon began and then hesitated.He saw the stormy look on Bomar’s face and added quickly.“But I believe I will eventually be able to get past the block.”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, you will,” Bomar hissed.“Or else we will have to terminate our business partnership.”** ****

**  
**

**Mendon almost choked on the wine he was drinking, but recovered quickly.“I don’t think it will come to that, my friend.I have given you a great deal of good service already—and in a very short time.I am the one, after all, who had the operatives to supply information on Crane’s activities, especially those who allowed his capture.I am the one who has been instrumental in getting the latest information you have, as well.And I was the person with the network available to steal all of the little toys you’ve wanted.”** ****

**  
**

**Bomar sighed.Yes, Mendon had proved himself most useful, but lately he had become distracted from the work that was most important—that of putting together the propulsion unit.Mendon had his own agenda and Bomar would have to be careful to keep that agenda in check until the scientist was finished helping him. “Yes, you have, but this last….”** ****

**  
**

**“….piece of information is vital.Yes, yes, I know, but somehow I believe that we would eventually be able to figure it out without outside information,” Mendon said soothingly.Then he looked startled, as though he had just thought of something.“Leader, did you send Crane to the laboratory?”** ****

**  
**

**“Of course, he had to know just who his better is.Why?”Mendon grimaced.“You have a problem with my methods?” Bomar asked scathingly, already knowing the answer.** ****

**  
**

**“You have your ways, and I have mine.However, I personally believe that this is a modern age and like everything else, one has to adapt to more modern methods.Torture has to become more sophisticated.”**

**  
**

**Bomar shook his head.“Sometimes the direct approach is best.Let them know who’s boss.”He gazed at the doctor.“You disagree?”** ****

**  
**

**“Not with your philosophy, but sometimes with your methods.Do you realize that when I break through the block protecting the information, it may be in a form that needs to be written?”** ****

**  
**

**“What?”Bomar blanched and then he rushed toward a phone.“Don’t do anything to him; just restrain him!” he shouted.There was a pause and then Bomar cursed and slammed the receiver down.**

**  
**

**“How badly?”** ****

**  
**

**“Na’alu had only started,” Bomar said tersely.“Crane still has the use of one hand.”** ****

**  
**

**Mendon nodded.There was nothing else that could be said.**

**  
**

**“Go down there and get busy.Do whatever it takes to obtain what Crane carries in his head.”** ****

**  
**

**Mendon almost scurried from the room in his eagerness.A smile formed on the small man’s lips as he opened the door.Yes, Bomar thought.Mendon would eventually get what he wanted but the world would grovel at his, Keith Bomar’s feet.He would not just be the master of a small island in the Pacific but of whatever he set his sights on.Crane had looked at him as though he had been crazy when he had mentioned the stars, but it was a reality.Bomar would take his empire to the stars.The leader laughed.No one would taunt him then.No one would pity or laugh at his ‘disability.’He would be the master and no one would dare.**

**  
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**===============================**

**  
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**Lee watched the little man approach.The heat from the units on the arms of the chair, coupled with the pain of his hand was making him dizzy.Sweat rolled down the sides of his face as well as into his eyes, but he didn’t bother to wipe it away.He could only wonder what this man would cook up to do to him.**

**  
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**With a short oath, the short, thin-faced man, went to the panel and turned off the heat units.The heat almost immediately dissipated.In a few minutes, he stood before Lee, now wearing a lab jacket.He took Lee’s burned hand and examined it.“Good thing you’re right-handed, Captain.”** ****

**  
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**“Yeah, terrific,” Crane muttered, grimacing at the pain the man’s handling of his hand was causing.**

**  
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**“It will eventually heal, but you will most likely carry scars,” the man said, letting the hand drop.**

**  
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**Lee’s breath hissed between his teeth.“And what’s your role here-- Rasputin or Mengele?” he asked caustically.** ****

**  
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**The smaller man said nothing for a moment, then he frowned.“I am Dr. Paul Mendon,” he said quietly.**

**  
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**“Apparently not a medical doctor, unless you’ve forgotten your Hippocratic oath.”** ****

**  
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**“Captain, this is not a pleasant situation for anybody….”** ****

**  
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**“Yeah, right,” Lee snapped sarcastically, unable to ignore the pain.**

**  
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**“Captain Crane, your, uh, attitude is not helping,” Mendon said, his voice even.Lee could tell the doctor was irritated, though.“You have some information my leader needs.”** ****

**  
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**“Wants,” Lee corrected.**

**  
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**“And he is determined to get it.I will try to be as humane as I can doing it, but….”** ****

**  
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**The captain sighed and said nothing.Mendon was spouting BS, but it would do no good to argue with him.The scientist pushed up one sleeve of Lee’s shirt.**

**  
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**“What are you doing?”** ****

**  
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**“Something to loosen your tongue a bit.”Mendon smiled.**

**  
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**Lee jerked his arm aside and seemed to have the scientist at a stalemate, but growled orders to Na’alu brought the guard to his side.Lee felt the steel hard hands clamp his arms to his side and the scientist plunged a hypodermic needle into his right shoulder.** ****

**  
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**“You can wait outside the door, Na’alu.There will be no further problems,” Mendon said.** ****

**  
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**The Polynesian studied Lee, who had stopped struggling, and then he shrugged and left the laboratory.**

**  
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**“This is a little different than the first dose,” Mendon said, more to himself than to Lee.** ****

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**The captain felt a buzzing in his ears and a peculiar lethargy begin to steal over him. He could see some of what Mendon was doing, but it didn’t seem to matter much.The scientist dragged a table with a tape recorder near his chair, pulled a stool next to the table and sat down.**

**  
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**As he turned on the machine, he studied Lee.“Tell me your name,” Mendon requested.**

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**“Lee Crane,” Lee answered tonelessly.**

**  
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**“Is that your full name?”** ****

**  
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**“No.Lee B. Crane.Middle name’s Benjamin,” Lee answered. Then he began to laugh.“Should have been something else.Grandfather called to give his idea on my name when I was born.Started to spell, V, for Vanderbilt, for the people he worked for when he was younger, but a storm cut him off.”A tiny voice in the back of his mind was ranting at his babbling of family stories, but there was nothing to be done about it.A smaller voice was quite pleased that Mendon was drumming his fingers impatiently on the small table.“Dad thought he said B and added my middle name….”** ****

**  
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**“Does Admiral Nelson have all of the information on the new propulsion drive?”** ****

**  
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**Lee wanted to say ‘what propulsion drive?’ but he couldn’t.“I don’t know.”Did the admiral have all the components?Was he part of the set up?No, he couldn’t have been.Nelson would never have sent him out if there hadn’t been need.“No.”He slipped a bit further into his torpor and the little voice in his head got quieter and quieter.He couldn’t even focus on the questions he was being asked and barely registered the sound of his voice answering.But what seemed only a short time later, Lee heard Mendon asking a clear and distinct question.** ****

**  
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**“What is Admiral Nelson’s secret private code?”** ****

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**The inner voice that had been silent had returned with full force and it provided the answer.“Go to hell, Mendon.”** ****

**  
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**The scientist looked a little shocked and then he smiled.“You are more resistant than I thought, Captain, but next time I will add something to make you even more cooperative.As it is, I do have to thank you for the information you have given me.”** ****

**  
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**In chagrin, Lee saw that the tape was over half expended.He wondered what he had babbled.**

**  
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**“Oh, yes, you are a font of information, Captain, but I think we will take a short break.Later, we can get together and chat some more,” Mendon said pleasantly.The scientist called out and a different guard entered the room.“Escort him to his cell.I want him back first thing in the morning.”** ****

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**The guard nodded, unbuckled the strap holding Lee in the chair and jerked him to his feet.With the Polynesian gripping his shirt, the captain had no choice but to go exactly where Bomar’s strongman wanted him to go.Lee was aware of his throbbing hand again.He gripped his left wrist, hoping that partially cutting off the circulation would help.It did a bit and he watched his surroundings more attentively.It was an underground corridor like the other one, but this one was larger, presumably to house prisoners.Wooden doors were set at approximately eight-foot intervals, but that varied, depending on the location of natural fissures out of which the cells seemed to be constructed.The end of the corridor loomed near, but they stopped before they got to it.** ****

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**The guard pulled a narrow wooden beam out of a metal slot set into the doorframe and pulled open the door.Old-fashioned, but effective, Lee thought..The Polynesian pushed the prisoner inside.The American found himself in an approximately four by eight foot rough-hewn rock walled cell.The light was practically non-existent, and Lee looked to find its source.There was a small rectangular hole about foot by four inches, set high in the door.It was about eye-level for him and he gazed out, trying to judge the activity.There was none.Crane judged that it had to be past midnight.He paced the confines of his tiny cell.There was a cot on one side and a tiny lavatory in the corner.**

**  
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**He sighed and sat down on the bed.It creaked, but held sturdy.Somehow, he had to get away from here.He knew that Mendez had developed a way to implant the information that others couldn’t extract from him, but was it absolutely foolproof?No, nothing was absolutely foolproof.And Lee didn’t want to admit it, but he felt the gnawing of fear.He shoved it aside, but he knew that it was lurking below the surface of his conscious thoughts.How far would Bomar and Mendon go to try to get this information?Bomar’s stunt with the hot-plate, and Lee knew that it was the leader’s stunt, was crude and it was only the intervention of Mendon that both hands hadn’t been burned.But of the two, it was the scientist that Lee was more afraid of.**

**  
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**He had mentioned Mengele, and had noticed, even through his pain, the flicker of more than irritation in the small man’s eyes.There had been admiration.Mendon admired the Nazi butcher of WWII, the “Angel of Death.”The lab was here for experimentation and like the Jews in Nazi Germany; Mendon was using prisoners here on Bomar’s island for his experiments.Him.** ****

**  
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**By his own admission, Mendon had used truth drugs, two variations.What would be next?Crane knew Bomar wanted him alive and able to communicate the information he had received from Mendez.Now he understood that the phone call to the guard, Na’alu, had been from Bomar who had realized that he might need his hands to communicate if they broke through the block that guarded the precious information.**

**  
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**That small revelation gave Lee scant solace although it provided a small bit of hope.He leaned back against the cool stone wall, and felt the beat of the sea join that of his heart.It helped relax and calm him much as the subtle movements of the _Seaview _did when they were at rest on the surface.It helped mute the pain of his burned hand.He wondered if he should attempt to bandage it and then decided against that move.Cloth would only burst the blisters and cause even more pain.**

**  
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**He needed to get back to the more important matter at hand—how to escape.That was foremost, and not just because it was part of his duty, but because he needed to get the information of this place and the operation of the two men in charge.There was also the idea that Lee simply didn’t want to stick around for Mendon to enjoy intensive chemical experimentation on his body.**

**  
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**But when the guard came to unbolt the door early in the morning, Crane had not come up with any solutions.So he tried the only thing he could think of.As the guard motioned him out of his cell, Lee complied docilely enough but as he walked out, he threw his weight against the door, shoving the guard off balance.A karate chop to the side of the neck with his good hand brought the guard to his knees gasping.Lee sprinted down the corridor to the door he had come through earlier.It was the only way out._Go for it! _he coaxed himself._Maybe, Lee Crane, old boy, you’ll get lucky today._** ****

**  
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**A few other prisoners were awake and curious about what was going on; softly calling out for him to release them, but Lee couldn’t take that chance.He reached the wooden door and hesitated only a second.Hearing the guard stir behind him and more prisoners waking up, Lee simply threw the door open and kept running.**

**  
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**\--Right into a young Polynesian woman with a tray of food.With a cry of surprise, she fell to the floor, food flying everywhere.Lee hesitated and saw her frightened look.“Are you all right?” he asked softly.** ****

**  
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**She gave the barest of nods, her eyes still large in fright.**

**  
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**“Good,” Lee said and headed toward the door he was unfamiliar with.He would take a chance with this one, hoping it would allow access out of the prison.He was running through a small kitchen.An older woman looked up, saw him and screamed.Crane didn’t try to reassure her, just kept on running.He passed through the narrow room and out another door.This one opened to a cavern; a storeroom by the looks of it.He dodged around stacks of boxes and crates, noticing at a glance that the information on the outside was in various different languages.Some were in Russian, some Chinese and some in English and a few European languages.What he saw in English seemed to indicate parts and machinery.It would appear that Bomar was building something big.**

**  
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**Crane overhead voices.He also heard the steady beating of the ocean against rocks, and headed in that direction, trying to discern where the voices were coming from.A pop from one side startled him and he turned to find a swirling, noxious cloud of gas wafting into his face.The world spun and then darkened.**


	8. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 7**

**  
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**  
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**La’ani watched the prisoner from her position on the floor.Several things astonished her.First, that she wasn’t afraid, at least not now.Second, he had stopped long enough to ask if she was hurt and third, that he was even this far into an escape.The Leader’s guards were usually quick and intimidatingly large enough to discourage anyone from even attempting an escape.Of course, it may have been the fact that this man, like her brother, was not that well acquainted with the leader or the evil man that Ali’i Bomar had hired a year ago.Her older brother, Fautave, had come home at the death of her father last year, found out what was really happening on Hikeru and had confronted the Leader.He had been killed trying to escape from this very place.Every day, she felt the pangs of guilt for having told him about Father’s death.If she had not, Fautave would still be alive, teaching the American children in Hawaii.How had all of this happened?What made her lovely homeland become dark and evil and why hadn’t anyone seen it until it was too late?Someone had, she thought in despair.A’ona Matua, the old one had seen it, warned them about it, but no one would listen to her then.Now it was too late.She pushed such thoughts away.They didn’t help anyone and they certainly couldn’t bring back her father and brother.** ****

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**The prisoner, an American, by the sound of his English, sprinted through the door to the kitchen and La’ani heard old Mamala scream.Teva staggered into the hallway as she was getting up.He started to ask her something, but he heard the scream, and simply lumbered into the kitchen.**

**La’ani was glad.She knew she wouldn’t have gotten away with a lie but she had not wanted to tell Teva where the American had gone.La’ani gazed at the mess.The cooked food was served in rolled leaves.It saved on dishes and kept the prisoners from using utensils as weapons. Everything Mamala had prepared would end up being thrown away.Most likely there would be nothing else for the prisoners until dinner and she felt bad for them.Perhaps some of the fruit could be salvaged.**

**  
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**She had just finished cleaning up the last of the mess when the door from the kitchen opened with a bang.Teva and Feke were carrying the prisoner.La’ani backed against the wall and watched as they carried him, not to his cell, but into the room of torture.She shuddered.The man must be very important for him to still be living after such an escape.But then the other American had been treated the same way.He had not lasted long.**

**  
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**As the doors closed behind the three men, she took her tray into the kitchen.Mamala took one look at the mess and threw up her hands.“What do we give them now?” she moaned.**

**  
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**La’ani placed the fruit into the washbasin.“I will wash this.At least they will have fruit.”But the whole time she was preparing the remains of the breakfast, La’ani was thinking about the American. **

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**=========================**

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**Harriman Nelson threw down his pencil in disgust.It was bad enough that he felt he had gotten Lee into this mess in the first place, but that he couldn’t come up with anything concrete in the effort to find him made him furious.He looked out the window, where the _Seaview_ sat serene and ineffective, mocking him at the moment.** ****

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**“Admiral,” Morton said almost apologetically, pointing to the map on the Nelson’s desk.“I triangulated using the data we had on the make of the jet.We used Taipei and Oahu as reference points.I also added in all possible refueling stops.”** ****

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**Nelson shook his head.“No, no, Chip, I’m not angry with you.What you’ve done is excellent work.But it still leaves us with thousands of square miles of ocean and innumerable islands to check out. He smoothed out the map and then traced the circular area that extended from the lower Aleutians down to northern New Zealand.“I think it’s south of Hawaii, not north.”** ****

**  
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**Morton nodded.“I agree, Admiral, but I didn’t limit the possibilities.”** ****

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**“I have pulled in all news items dealing with the South Pacific and seen nothing unusual.I have contacted our people in the area and there is nothing out of the ordinary.No large building contracts.No government changeovers.Nothing!” Harriman stormed.He began pacing back and forth and almost bumped into his personal secretary who had returned from her vacation two days previously.“Sorry, Angie.”** ****

**  
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**“No problem, sir,” she answered with a tight smile.“But if you were building some kind of covert operation, something big enough to have jets and operatives capable of tracing and then kidnapping top quality spies and scientists, would you advertise?”** ****

**  
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**“Of course not,” Nelson snapped.“What are you getting at?” It had been a very frustrating two days at the institute.Even the jet registry had turned up a dead end.According to the numbers it was decommissioned and sold for parts and scrap the previous year.The buyer was supposed to be a junk dealer out of San Francisco.But that had apparently only been a ruse to cover the purchase of a viable private jet.**

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**“Whoever this person is, he’s built his operation piece by piece.He- or she—has been very patient.I suspect that the labor, except the most technical, is homegrown.And I bet that most of the materials are stolen.”Angie shrugged.“How many governments publicize that things of importance have been ripped off right under their very noses?”** ****

**  
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**Morton said nothing, only watched the pair as though he was in the audience of a tennis match.**

**  
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**Nelson was suddenly quiet as well; his eyes on the map, but his thoughts were far from it.When he looked up, there was a gleam in his eye and a determined set to his mouth.He walked the short distance to his secretary and kissed her soundly.** ****

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**She stared at him in shock and then smiled broadly.“What do I do to get a date?” she asked slyly, obviously impressed by his uncharacteristic attention.** ****

**  
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**“Continue to help us find Lee,” Nelson said.**

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**Her smiled vanished.“Gladly, Admiral.I would do that without the promise, but I am definitely going to hold you to that.”** ****

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**“Continue to look for information on that jet.There has to be something out there we missed the first time—some middleman.”He began pacing again.“The problem is that we’ve been too heavily concentrating on the jet.We need to work on this other angle, too.”He continued to pace.“Get manifests of large scale building projects and see if any of those types of materials are missing from any of the larger contracting companies, especially those specializing in the South Pacific.”He gazed directly at both Morton and Angie.“Look around for any references of missing ordinance.”** ****

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**“Ordinance?”** ****

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**“Yes, Commander, ordinance. Do you think that anyone with the capability to put the spy community on its ear wouldn’t also be stockpiling weapons?” Nelson asked.“Start with losses from Pearl Harbor and west coast bases.I also want checks of Russian and Chinese losses.Australian as well.”The admiral tapped the map.“There’s something I’m missing,” he repeated.** ****

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**“Admiral?” Angie ventured.** ****

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**Nelson looked at her expectantly.“Yes, Angie.Have you thought of something else?”** ****

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**“Maybe,” she replied.“Should we possibly have Dr. Jakov on this?To profile this mysterious enemy?”** ****

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**“Have Linda work on that,” Nelson ordered.Angie nodded and quickly left the office.**

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**=================================**

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**Lee felt as though his brain was on fire.Images of giant octopi, run-wild plankton, mutations gone bizarre raced through his mind.He opened his eyes, hoping for the reality of his cell to douse the wildfire images rampant in his mind and he saw a shimmering haze of deep-sea mystery in front of him.He lost all sense of what was real and what was dream.It was all real.** ****

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**Blazing torpedoes aimed directly at him; eyes opened on their warheads and leering mouths filled with sharpened shark teeth, laughed hideously.Voices echoed in his head.“_You are doomed, you are ours.We have been waiting for you, Captain.You cannot hide from us.”_Lee closed his eyes again, but the horrible scenes kept coming, repeating, and becoming more and more vivid.** ****

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**He was swimming in the ocean and a huge whale was coming at him.He was in the Flying Sub and it burst into flames, plowing toward land—no, toward the _Seaview_, with terrifying speed.He screamed as he hit and breached the hull. Bodies burned like paper dolls, the submarine exploded and then sank.Horror filled his lungs along with super-heated seawater.Suddenly he was in a diving bell, bouncing in the deepest, pitch-black trench of the ocean, careening on the edge of a precipice overlooking an even deeper abyss.Lee tried to scramble back and felt a cold rock wall.The wall threw arms around him and he screamed again.There was no defiance as there had been earlier, no bravado or sense of control, only terror.Horrible, debilitating terror, the result of the past, which had grown beyond proportion into a present of overwhelming horror.**

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**Lee put his hands over his ears and still the voices, the deadly entities beat at him.Again he opened his eyes and for a brief second, he saw a door before the horrible, combined enemies closed in on him again.He rushed for it, tried to claw it open, scraping already bruised hands.The blisters on his left hand opened and oozed, then bled.Lee was determined to pull the bars out of the small slot, but he failed.He beat on the door and screamed for help, but he was alone with his demons.Crouching on the ground, curled up as tightly as he could to protect himself from the forces conspiring against him, the captain could only pray for an end, even as he screamed at his demons to leave him alone.**

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**==============================** ****

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**With a scarcity of words that was characteristic of him, Na’alu gave his report to Bomar and stood silently, his body at attention while he waited for his leader’s next command.**

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**“That blatant idiot!” Bomar shouted.How did Mendon expect to get information from someone beset by insanity, or from someone so imbalanced that they would want to do themselves in?“Come with me,” he said tersely.No wonder Mendon had been so vague the past few days when Bomar had asked for progress reports.**

**  
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**It only took Bomar a few minutes to get to the laboratory where Mendon was working furiously, almost trotting from one table to another.The scientist looked up in surprise.**

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**“You call yourself a scientist?” Bomar thundered.The anguished cries of the American could reach his ears even here.“I hired you to get what I wanted, to build my empire, to get this vitally important information and then help me put it together.”** ****

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**“I am,” Mendon said stiffly, recovering from his initial surprise.“To use the vernacular, I am softening the captain up.I am breaking down whatever deep barriers are in place to protect the secret.By destroying the inner core of Captain Crane’s being—his personality, I believe I will eventually be able to easily pull out the information you want.”** ****

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**“How can you get information from a suicidal subject?” Bomar asked, his voice still dangerously loud.** ****

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**“Suicidal?” Mendon repeated.Then he shook his head.“No, he’s not suicidal.”Mendon gazed at Na’alu who stood nearby, his arms folded across his massive chest.“So you don’t trust me,” Mendon said softly.** ****

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**“I don’t trust anyone these days,” Bomar said, his voice softer, but no less deadly.“I realized that you get great pleasure from your chemical experiments.I also know you want to develop biological, as well as chemical agents,” Bomar said.“And that you have limited number of guinea pigs here.”He leaned toward Mendon.“You can have Captain Crane when you get what I want from him.I want him under strict surveillance until the psychotic behavior passes,” Bomar ordered.”** ****

**  
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**Mendon frowned and began to say something.** ****

**  
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**Bomar cut him off.“If you are so sure that this type of drug ‘therapy’ will work, then bring him in and try to get the information now,” Bomar suggested.“I would love to be proved wrong in this instance.”** ****

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**Mendon nodded.“I was planning on trying in a short while, but now is as good as then.”** ****

**  
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**“I sincerely hope you succeed,” Bomar said coldly.He motioned for the Polynesian to go and get the prisoner and then he turned back to Mendon.“It’s been almost a week since we brought Crane here.I want to get that missing information, get the device built before Nelson figures out where his captain is.”** ****

**  
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**Mendon laughed.“There is no way they could find that out.The transmitter was found and destroyed before they were twenty minutes from the airport.”** ****

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**“Don’t put anything past Nelson,” Bomar said sourly.**

**  
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**“I don’t, but in this case, I know I am right,” Mendon snapped.Then he added in a more mollifying tone.“I have retrieved very useful information, Leader.”** ****

**  
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**“Yes, if I wanted to command the _Seaview_,” Bomar retorted.Then he sighed.“All right, some of that may come in useful in the future.I am keeping the tapes.”**

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**Na’alu came back; another guard helping him carry the struggling American.This was not the same self-confident, almost cocky man he had tried to entice into his organization a week ago.If not for the present need, Bomar would almost have a bit of the same pleasure that Mendon got from his ‘experiments.’It bothered him not at all for the submariner and erstwhile spy to be taken down a peg or two.**

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**The drug had seemingly given Crane strength.It took both guards to get the American on the table and strapped down.The man appeared to have been in a brawl.Na’alu did as well, sporting several large bruises on his face.“Like a demon,” the other guard said tersely, backing away.**

**Crane’s eyes were open, but it was very apparent that the captain was seeing something no one else could see, demons of the drug’s making.Mendon managed to inject something into the prisoner’s arm.Crane calmed slightly, but still pulled and tugged at the restraints.After a few minutes, Mendon began asking questions, the first few generic then quickly getting to the heart of the matter.All answers were jumbled combinations of reality and fantasy and none even remotely resembled what Bomar was looking for.**

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**“You’re not getting anywhere,” Bomar said, his voice rising in anger again.**

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**“It takes time, Leader,” Mendon said evenly.“I will keep working and the deep seated memories will slowly surface.”Bomar cursed.“Leader, hear me out.We will get this information.It is more difficult because of his conditioning. As you ordered, I worked several days with the truth drugs and they didn’t work.I realized that I had to do something else.He is not suicidal, and even if that manifests itself, I will guarantee that he won’t succeed.What I am doing is methodical and the only way to get what you want.”** ****

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**“You said that before.Explain yourself,” Bomar grumbled.** ****

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**“I mean, Leader, that in order to get what has been planted, we must first strip away everything else.I am using the psychochemicals to weaken his personality markers.I will use the biochemical agents to weaken his body, which will make his mind more susceptible to a different round of psychochemicals.Eventually, there will be nothing left to hold the information we want and I will be able to get it quite easily.”** ****

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**“You can do that with these drugs?” Bomar asked.**

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**Mendon shrugged.“The great Josef Mengele did it.”** ****

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**Bomar said nothing for several moments as he watched the prisoner thrashing weakly against his bonds.“Very well.Do what you need to do.Let me know what happens, and remember what our ultimate goal is.Everything else is secondary.”** ****

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**“Yes, Mr. Bomar,” Mendon replied placatingly.He glanced at the American now lying sedate on the exam table.“I understand, Leader.”Bomar left.**


	9. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 8**

**La’ani carried the tray with the prisoners’ dinners.It had already grown dark outside, but the lights made it noonday bright.She smiled.Before the prisoner’s escape, there were almost no lights.It was too expensive for many lights.Until today the guards had been on double shift as well, but the prisoner had been so drugged the last several days that he had been a threat to no one but himself.Or perhaps the guard that ventured too close to his flailing fists.**

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**And the few other prisoners?They were too tired from each day’s work to try anything.Lately, they had been even more compliant.La’ani thought that the example of the American’s fate had cowed them even more than previous threats of horrible punishments had.What had been whispered about in the past six months had now proved to be real.Even in her village, everyone was subdued and afraid.** ****

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**The other prisoners looked toward her only as their source of food and water, not as a former friend or even as a possible means of escape.With slight hesitation, she slipped back the locking bar and opened the American’s door.She wondered if he was still possessed of the demons of his dreams? Off and on for more than three days he had been taken to the room of torture.This evening, though, he had been very quiet, with only occasional outbursts.It was getting late and his was the last dinner to give out.She was afraid of him.He had given all of the guards bruises, what would he do to her?The previous meals had been shoved through a slight crack in the door, with a guard no further than the next hallway.Tonight the guards were absent, presumably taking their own dinners with Mamala in the kitchen.What if the prisoner was waiting by the door, ready to pounce on her?**

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**La’ani drew in a tremulous breath.If he tried something, she could scream.Then she felt ashamed of herself.The man was more to be pitied than feared.When she had told the old woman in the village about him, A’ona Matua had told her that she should not be afraid of him.He would not hurt her.A’ona Matua had never been wrong about the things she had seen in her dreams or the feelings of her heart.La’ani would trust in the old woman’s instincts.Carefully, she pulled back the door bolt and peered inside.The light was already dim, but she could see a vague outline in the corner of the room.As her eyes became used to the muted light, she saw him raise his head.**

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**The man sucked in a ragged breath and gazed fearfully at her.“Please,” he whispered.“No more.”His back pressed more closely to the wall of his cell.** ****

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**La’ani was amazed. He was more afraid of her as she was of him.She remembered the first time they had met during his escape attempt.There had been no fear then.It was the evil one.He had done this. “You do not have to be afraid of me,” she said soothingly, still standing in the door way in case he became violent.**

**  
**

**At the sound of her voice, he studied her with something closer to curiosity, although there was still fear.Several minutes passed and La’ani wondered if she should just leave the packet of food and flagon of water on the floor and go.The fear seemed to slowly disappear. “I know,” he said softly.His voice was hoarse, probably from the constant crying out during his nightmares.“I recognize you now.”He hesitated.“At first I thought you were something, uh, someone else.”** ****

**  
**

**“Like one of the giant monsters of Moana’s realm?” she asked, flashing him a smile to reassure him.** ****

**  
**

**He closed his eyes and she heard a soft moan before he spoke again.“Don’t laugh,” he said bitterly, looking at the ground.“I have seen a great deal these past few years.I didn’t need anything from Dr. Doom to enhance reality.”** ****

**  
**

**Suddenly, La’ani was no longer afraid of this American.She couldn’t explain it; just that it was so.“I’m sorry,” she said quickly, stepping to his side.“I didn’t mean to sound as though I was laughing at you.”** ****

**  
**

**He started at her approach and then he sighed.“I know you didn’t,” he replied, his features softening considerably.**

**  
**

**“My name is La’ani,” she told him, reaching out and touching him on the arm.**

**  
**

**He flinched when she spoke her name, but then he looked at her hand in the dim light and then into her eyes.“That’s a very pretty name.I, uh . . . once knew someone whose name was close to yours.My name is Lee.”** ****

**  
**

**“I have heard the evil one call you captain,” she said.“You are an American fighting man?”** ****

**  
**

**“Something like that although I don’t think I’m doing much fighting now,” he replied with a soft smile.There was no humor there, she noted.He looked over her shoulder as though listening.She listened as well, but heard nothing.“How long?” he asked, his voice almost a whisper.**

**  
**

**She was puzzled at first, then it dawned on her to what he was referring.“You have been in here most of the past three days, and there were several days before that.And you were in the Leader’s house for a day, I was told.”** ****

**  
**

**“I remember those early days—a little,” he said, gazing at her curiously.“Aren’t you afraid you’ll get in trouble talking to me?” he asked.** ****

**  
**

**“I have talked to prisoners often,” she said defiantly, even though she knew he was right.She would need to leave soon.**

**  
**

**He smiled.Even as unkempt and bruised as he was, with a dark growth of beard, the American was still handsome.And there was a tiny spark of humor to offset the haunted look in his eyes.“But I seem to be a special case.”** ****

**  
**

**La’ani nodded.“Yes, you seem to be,” she said, remembering her father and brother in this horrible place.They had been special cases, too, but for a different reason.“I will still give greetings as I do others,” she replied, this time feeling defiant as well as sounding that way.She had a sudden impulse to reach over and take his hand-- he seemed so cut-off.She jerked back when he bit off a cry of pain.La’ani reached out again, but this time she gently turned his hand over and examined it.Lee had been given the same brand that all who defied the leader were given.“I’m sorry.I didn’t realize . . . although I should have,” she ended cynically.** ****

**  
**

**“Common, eh?” he asked, cradling his hand when she had let go.** ****

**  
**

**La’ani could only nod.She picked up the leaf-wrapped rice and pineapple balls and handed them to him.Instead of merely grabbing the food from her hands as some of the prisoners did, the American wrapped his good hand around hers.He gazed deeply into her eyes.“Thank you, La’ani, for your kindness, and for giving me these few minutes of enjoyment.”Then he gently pulled away taking the food with him.**

**  
**

**She set down the small plastic jug and backed away.“Goodnight,” was all she could think to say.**

**  
**

**“Goodnight.”**

**  
**

**=================================** ****

**  
**

**  
**

**“Well, my friend, it would seem that you are being most uncooperative,” Mendon said pleasantly on the morning of the eighth day.**

**  
**

**Figuring by now that talk was wasted on Mendon, Lee kept quiet.His mind was still foggy.Despite the fact that he had not been given any drugs last night, his sleep had still been restless.Vividly horrible creatures and equally nasty enemies had walked through the corridors of his mind.At least that’s what he thought had happened.It always seemed so real.He remembered La’ani.She was real.He knew that.Her touch, her voice had come to him when he thought there was nothing pleasant in the world anymore.**

**  
**

**“Well, at the very least, my drug therapy has had the advantage of helping you keep a civil tongue in your head, Captain.”** ****

**  
**

**Again, Crane said nothing.What could he say?Mendon was going to shoot him up with whatever he chose anyway.It was all going to start again.Then he realized that the other reason he didn’t say anything was because he was afraid.He was so afraid he would begin to beg or offer something that wasn’t his to give if he even opened his mouth.His hands trembled and he wasn’t able to gather enough control to stop that manifestation of his fear.** ****

**  
**

**“I think today, we’ll try something a bit different,” Mendon continued as though discussing something on the menu of a high-class restaurant.Mendon looked too happy.Lee felt the trembling intensify.The scientist went over to a cabinet and opened it.There were about a dozen vials on each of four different shelves.He muttered to himself as he picked through them.“These are most promising,” he said, his voice cheerful.**

**  
**

**Crane felt the fingers of dread working up and down his spine, but there was nothing he could do as Na’alu had a big, beefy hand on one shoulder.**

**  
**

**Mendon walked over to Lee with one of the vials in his hand.“Do you wonder that I have no hypodermic today, Captain?”Mendon laughed, even though Lee was still saying nothing.“It’s because this is meant to be consumed as a drink.Mixed with water this becomes a very quick acting bio-chemical agent.**

**  
**

**Lee couldn’t help it.He stared at the small vial in horror.** ****

**  
**

**Mendon laughed.“You think this is the danger, Captain?This small container you can see?”Mendon laughed again.“No, the danger is the way the contagion inside is delivered.In a water treatment plant.In a water storage tank.In a small jug of water….”Mendon’s voice trailed off leaving his meaning very clear.**

**  
**

**Crane had only just finished his breakfast, washing it down with the small flagon of water that all the prisoners got in the morning.He had saved a little for washing his face and hands.When he was lucid, the captain felt filthy.He didn’t remember the last time he had taken a shower.Everything had seemed very normal when he got his breakfast from one of the guards.Now?Now there was a new game in hell.** ****

**  
**

**The scientist turned to Na’alu.“Go get your own breakfast.He isn’t going to do a thing.”When the Polynesian had left, Mendon smirked.“Now, to the real issue.The other reason I have so enjoyed using you for a test subject.”Mendon gazed at Lee and apparently liked what he was seeing.“My biggest problem has always been the sharp taste of the agent.It’s very hard to disguise the chemical that I have bonded to the biological agent, especially in water.As you know, if you want to deliver something like that to an entire population, precision becomes paramount.”Mendon stopped his explanation and studied his prisoner.“You are obviously wondering what a biological agent has to do with the information in your head.”Mendon grinned.“Well, Captain, since you are going to die benefiting my leader, you might as well benefit me, too.This is not just for getting a piece of information that some intelligent person would eventually figure out anyway.This is also for the science of revenge, or more appropriately my personal jihad.”Mendon spoke as one who had been isolated for too long; someone who had to discuss his discoveries with another individual, no matter who that person was.“While I am doing the Leader’s bidding, I am also developing my own weapon.And there is no block for what I plan on unleashing.You, Captain Crane, are the first to help me develop these biochemicals for distribution.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee had to work hard to squelch the horror creeping through his body; paralyzing his mind even more than the previous day’s drugs. He was still afraid, so afraid, but he had to find out more, then do what Mendon seemed to think he couldn’t do—escape.He had to push away his fear; ignore the demons that dwelt in his head.That bit of determination seemed to clear his head.Still, there was a quaver in his voice when he spoke, “If . . . if you have given me some kind of contagion, what keeps you, or anyone else from getting it?”Lee figured this wasn’t really a contagion, but he didn’t want to chance it.**

**  
**

**“Captain Crane, I thought you were highly intelligent.I said this was an agent, not a contagion.But I am working on a contagion, one that will be a much more effective instrument.”He turned and walked away a few paces, toward another cabinet.“And do you think me so stupid as to develop my biological or chemical weapons without having the antidotes?”As he turned to face Lee again, his eyes lingered on the second cabinet for a second or two.** ****

**  
**

**Lee kept his face as bland as he could, trying to not only mask his suspicions, but also the pain that was spreading through his stomach.** ****

**  
**

**“Feeling it, Captain?”** ****

**  
**

**Crane continued to try maintaining his even expression, but he didn’t think he was successful.** ****

**  
**

**Mendon walked back toward him.Then he laughed.“Yes, it has begun.You are trying to hide it but it’s there.I will escort you to the door, Captain.And please remember, despite my size, I am more than a match for you.”** ****

**  
**

**Crane was well aware of that fact, so he didn’t fight it when Mendon took him by the arm and dragged him from the chair.It was hard, though.Even the merest touch of his torturer wanted to make him pull away and cringe in a corner.He felt even filthier than he had before.**

**  
**

**At the door, Mendon called out, “Take him to his cell.He will remain there for the next eight hours, then I want to examine him.I have much to do with this agent,” he said, more to himself than to Lee or the guard.“It needs to be more subtle, take a bit longer to develop more fully in the victim before they realize what’s hit them.Wouldn’t want anyone running for medical help before the agent was able to do its job.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee continued to keep a straight face as Na’alu led him to his cell, but once there, door bolted, he fell to his knees, doubled over in agony.He remained that way most of the day, after barely making it to the tiny lavatory to rid himself of his breakfast.Sometime much later, he managed to crawl into his cot.** ****

**  
**

**The darkness of his room became a little darker before he was conscious of anything other than his own misery.The denizens of this mind still visited him, but they were no match for the terrible pain that ravaged his body and the ever-present nausea.Crane had only vaguely been aware of the fact that a guard had dragged him to the laboratory earlier for Mendon to run tests and gloat.Now he felt his burned hand pulled out from under his tightly curled body and wondered what new horrors awaited.He didn’t have the strength to fight it.** ****

**  
**

**Then amidst the pain knotting his insides, Lee felt a soothing coolness on his hand.He opened his eyes and saw La’ani.When she saw he was aware of her, she smiled as she rubbed a salve on his hand.**

**  
**

**“What is it?” he asked, then bit his lip as another wave of pain hit him.** ****

**  
**

**“It’s something my grandmother taught me,” she said softly.“It is made from coconuts and other things, too numerous to go into right now.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee pulled in a ragged breath.“Thanks, it feels much better.”**

**  
**

**She nodded, rubbing in more of the concoction.“They told me not to even bother bringing you any dinner, but I brought some anyway.In case the sickness is passing.”** ****

**  
**

**Nausea washed over him at the very thought of food.Shaking his head, Lee smiled bitterly.“No, this is no sickness.At least not a natural one.”**

**  
**

**“Teva told me it was not a sickness that others could catch,” she replied.** ****

**  
**

**Lee nodded. “Teva’s right.I’m Mendon’s guinea pig.”** ****

**  
**

**La’ani looked puzzled.“Guinea pig?” Then comprehension dawned.“Oh.”Her dark eyes seemed to cloud with sadness.**

**  
**

**“But he’s trying to make sicknesses that can be spread from one person to another,” Crane whispered.He felt she had to know this, as it was most likely her friends and family, the native population that would be experimented on next.** ****

**  
**

**The rubbing on his hand ceased and she stared at him.“Someone would do that?”** ****

**  
**

**“Deep down in your soul—what do you think?” Lee asked bluntly.** ****

**  
**

**She lowered her eyes.“Yes, the Leader is mad for power and greedy for wealth.The doctor wants something else.”** ****

**  
**

**“Jihad,” he said, his voice ending in a groan as his insides seemed to tie themselves again into a knot.** ****

**  
**

**“Here, perhaps this juice will help,” La’ani ventured, holding out a small jug she had pulled from under a sash tied around her middle.** ****

**  
**

**Lee looked at it dubiously, then took it.He was intensely thirsty, but to add to what he already felt?He licked his dry lips._What the hell,_ he thought, and took a small sip.His stomach felt queasy, but not to the extent as before, and he took another.The flavor resembled the smell of the salve La’ani had put on his hand.“Same stuff?” he asked.**

**  
**

**“Similar,” she said.There was a noise in the hallway.“Keep the jug and drink a little throughout the night,” she whispered.**

**  
**

**“Thank you, La’ani,” he said.Through the night, he continued take small sips of the island drink.Though there were times that his seditious stomach let him know it was still in charge, Lee didn’t feel the horrible, biting pain that he had felt through the day.Now that he was able to do more than feel miserable, he pondered how he could escape.It wasn’t just a dream to hope for; Lee realized that this was imperative.He wasn’t dealing with a power hungry playboy, but also a revenge driven, conscience-devoid biochemist ready to unleash a plague on humanity, or at least one part of it.**

**  
**

**Lee examined the door again, thinking of the possibilities and took another small drink from La’ani’s jug.It was small, but it was better than nothing, insofar as a weapon was concerned.Lying on his bunk, he pondered, planned and then got up, pushing his pain as far away as he could, determined to put his plan into action.** ****


	10. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 9**

**  
**

**  
**

**Nelson looked at the pile of papers on his desk.Finally, after a week of worry, some information was coming in that might be of use.A great deal of money had to change hands to do it, but the admiral’s operatives had found out that the jet had been sold as scrap, being outdated.However, it had then been diverted to another party that dealt in converting such planes to modern condition and selling them for huge profits to those carrying out clandestine activities.It had been a very convoluted path, but the outcome was that this had been one very busy jet.There were stolen electrical parts from the United States, guidance systems from Australia, induction conversion parts from one of NIMR’s own suppliers.There was also ordinance from China, Russia, and the U.S. government warehouses.But the biggest prize had been that the information on the jet had led them to discover the fueling dispatches.It had fueled in Guam, Luzon, Samoa, Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti.The date that matched Lee’s abduction showed a refueling in Guam.Right under the military’s nose, Harriman thought sourly.**

**  
**

**Frowning, Nelson gazed at the edges of the detailed map of the South Pacific that lay stretched out under the files and folders.He piled all the folders into one huge stack and then dumped them on a small side table.Triangulation lines had been drawn on several parts of the map.Numerous possibilities in a limitless ocean.One thing was certain, though—based on the pattern of the stolen materials, the destination point was somewhere in the South Pacific, in the Micronesia area or, he thought as he studied the map, somewhere not more than a thousand miles south.That astonished Nelson, as that would be almost in the shadow of American Samoa with its military base.Interesting thing was, there had been nothing stolen from there.It was almost as though the thief had been trying very hard not to have anyone investigating too close to ‘home.’**

**  
**

**“Interesting,” he murmured, seeing the triangulation zone in a particularly expansive and desolate part of the Pacific.He punched the intercom.“Angie?”**

**  
**

**There was a silence for a moment and then a voice, as though someone had their head in a box.“Yes, Admiral?”**

**  
**

**“I want a pinpoint map corresponding to grid A8/L4 of the South Pacific survey map,” he ordered.**

**  
**

**“Right away, sir,” came the muffled response.**

**  
**

**Harriman Nelson was curious.“What in the world are you doing in there?”**

**  
**

**“My own research, Admiral,” Angie responded airily.** ****

**  
**

**He simply shook his head.“Just make sure I have that map on my desk in five minutes,” he said in mock seriousness.He knew Angie well.If he said he wanted something in two minutes, he usually got it in one.**

**  
**

**“Yes, sir.”**

**  
**

**In three minutes, Angie came sauntering in, a rolled up map under one arm and a magazine under the other.“Here’s your map, Admiral,” she said with a slight smile.**

**  
**

**Nelson glanced at the magazine, still hidden from view.“I sincerely hope you aren’t reading gossip magazines on my time,” he growled good-naturedly.**

**Angie shook her head.Nelson huffed and spread out the map.Small islands dotted the expanse, but they were named and territorial ownership noted.Larger countries owned most; although there were some administered by autonomous governments.About two-dozen, he thought morosely.But that narrowed it down considerably.He was positive that one of these islands held what he was looking for.Lee was there somewhere.**

**  
**

**“Actually, Admiral,” Angie began, bringing Nelson out of his reverie.“When I received your requests yesterday, it got me thinking about something unusual I had read a few years back.”She tossed down a travel magazine that was about four years old.**

**  
**

**“Feeding sharks of the Galapagos, vacationing in an igloo,” he read on the colorful cover.**

**  
**

**“No, the bottom one,” she said impatiently.**

**  
**

**But the small headline had already caught his eye.“American playboy marries island princess.”Nelson opened to the page and began reading.“Kevin Bomar of Honolulu, wed the Princess Aliana Matai Ofouano in a ceremony under the palms of the beautiful island, Hikeru.”He stopped reading and looked at the map.In the upper right hand corner was the island, Hikeru.“Damn, I think we’ve got it,” he said, his eyes gleaming in excitement.“Send a discreet call to the crew.We’re getting underway at….”He looked outside.It was late afternoon.“At 0400.”**

**  
**

**“Aye, aye, sir!” Angie said, a big grin on her face.**

**  
**

**“And Angie?” he said as she opened his door to leave.** ****

**  
**

**She turned back.** ****

**  
**

**“When we come back, I will take you to that sushi bar you keep talking about.”** ****

**  
**

**“I’ll hold you to it, sir.”She paused.“You’ll be treating the captain, too, you know,” she added, her voice softer.**

**  
**

**He smiled.“Gladly.”When she left, he tapped the map.“Hikeru.Hang in there, Lee,” he murmured.**

**  
**

**  
**

**================================**

**  
**

**Lee’s cot sagged in one corner, but that was all right.He gazed at the dug out groove in his cell door with satisfaction.One more night and he should be through the wood.Dampness had made it soft and the long screw had been an almost perfect digging tool.**

**  
**

**He had to stop often.Whatever that bug was Mendon had given him; it had kept him doubled up most of the night. He had forced himself to continue taking small sips of La’ani’s concoction and to his surprise, had been able to keep most of it down.Finally exhaustion had forced him to call a halt to his activities.If nothing interfered, he should be able to finish the job tomorrow night and with the makeshift tool, slide the bolt back and let himself out.**

**  
**

**He had dozed off when the bolt was thrown back and the door pulled open.The guard, Na’alu, stood in the doorway.“Come,” he ordered.**

**  
**

**Slowly, Lee sat up and then with equal deliberation, he stood.Not only did he not want to call attention to the sagging cot, but he wanted to keep the last of La’ani’s drink down.And his joints hurt.Everything seemed to hurt, he thought dourly.The nasty little demon in his middle tormented him again and he sagged against a wall sucking in a breath, then another.Na’alu had the good grace to wait until the pain had subsided before pushing him forward.**

**  
**

**Lee had to stop again before they got to the laboratory door.It seemed activity exacerbated the condition.The guard opened the door and Lee glanced in, looking for Mendon.The scientist was nowhere to be seen.**

**  
**

**“Chair,” Na’alu said, pointing to the lab chair halfway across the room.**

**  
**

**“Gladly,” Lee panted. The illness was coming back with a vengeance and it was all he could do to stay on his feet.It seemed to take forever, but Na’alu stayed strangely aloof, only watching his progress with a seemingly disinterested eye.**

**  
**

**Lee leaned over the arm of the chair, the pain almost causing him to pass out._Wish I could,_ he thought._Honor, courage, commitment,_ came the unbidden thought.He focused on the rest of the core values-- "I am a United States Sailor. I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and obey the orders of those appointed over me. I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy and those who have gone before me to defend freedom and democracy around the world. I proudly serve my country's Navy combat team with Honor, Courage, and Commitment. I am committed to excellence and the fair treatment of all."He found he had actually said the words aloud.But what were they worth to him now?Bitter, he already felt he had lost the honor with which he had served the past fifteen years.Courage?It seemed to have vanished, too.All he wanted to do now was die.More pain gripped him and he moaned.The litany had served to do one good thing.Lee didn’t remember getting in the chair, but somehow he had and with a sigh of relief, he sagged against the back.Commitment….He had to get away.He owed it to the men to tell them about these two maniacs.They had proven themselves the equal of anyone in the People’s Republic or anyone else they had tackled over the years.**

**  
**

**But how?How could he do that when he couldn’t even stand up straight?Lee had no idea how long he sat there, resting when he could, but finally the far door clicked and Mendon sauntered in, whistling.“Well, well, I trust you had a restful night, Captain?”**

**  
**

**Lee said nothing.He didn’t feel at this point that there was any good reason to irritate the man, although he couldn’t see any advantage to sucking up either.Mendon continued to whistle as he took Lee’s vitals, drew blood and checked a chart.**

**  
**

**“Good, very good.You cannot imagine the great pleasure it’s giving me to have you as my special test subject, Captain Crane.I have always had a very special place in my heart for United States Naval personnel.”**

**  
**

**“I’ll bet,” Lee muttered, his anger rising.**

**  
**

**Mendon laughed.“But as much as I would love to stand here and watch my biological agents work on you, it has served its purpose and I need you for the next phase of my plans.”**

**  
**

**Pain and nausea gripped him again.“What, bamboo shoots?” he hissed between clenched teeth.**

**  
**

**“Oh, no, Captain.Nothing so crude,” Mendon said, as though horror struck.“I detest those methods of information extraction.So unnecessary.Using bio-chemical agents are much more effective.”**

**  
**

**“Yeah, less blood to clean up,” Lee said caustically.“The drugs are a much cleaner form of sadism.”**

**  
**

**Mendon’s hand shot out and Lee felt his head snapped to one side of the headrest.“I would have gotten that information from you the first night if it had not been placed electronically.And if I had the time, I would still be able to figure a way around that problem, Captain.He was leaning so close that Lee could feel his breath.“However, you will serve a much higher purpose,” he said in a low voice.“You will be the instrument in the destruction of my most bitter enemies.”He pulled back and looked at Na’alu, but the guard was by the far door.**

**  
**

**Lee felt the blood rush to his head and anger supercede any discomfort he felt.“What’s the matter, Mendon?” Lee asked sarcastically.“Don’t want the boss’s right hand goon to spoil your own plans for world domination.”**

**  
**

**Mendon’s face was suffused with anger, his eyes bristling with hate.**

**  
**

**“And since when did you become poster boy for the ranks of Islamic purists?” Lee added, knowing that he would regret it later.** ****

**  
**

**This time when Mendon struck, it was with enough force to send the American into a pain free abyss of unconsciousness.**

**  
**

**  
**

**==================================**

**  
**

**The tension in the control room of the _Seaview_ was palpable.Everyone gazed at Nelson as he climbed down the ladder from the deck and strode toward the ops table.Their eyes held hopeful optimism. After all, they wouldn’t be getting underway if there hadn’t been some substantial news.They were ready.Everyone had responded and all hands were on board by midnight.**

**  
**

**Nelson was pleased.No regular Navy crew could have done half as well.He ventured to guess that none were as loyal, either.It was 0200 hours, but there was no reason to wait.He ordered the hatches sealed.Then he took the intercom and drew in a breath before making his announcement.“This is the admiral.As soon as I am finished making my announcement, we will get underway.We will travel quickly and with a minimum of contact with the outside world.As far as anyone beyond this boat is concerned, we are traveling to Wellington, New Zealand to check on a lead we received about Captain Crane.However, our real destination is a small island about five hundred miles northeast of there.I am very certain that we will find the captain there.Once we are within three hundred miles of our destination, we will maintain total radio silence.”**

**  
**

**“It has taken the unflagging efforts of many of you as well as people at the Institute to get this information and it will take all of you to bring it to a positive conclusion.”He looked into Chip Morton’s eyes.“And by the grace of God, we’ll soon have Captain Crane back on board.”He put the mike back in its cradle and nodded to Morton.There were murmurs of excitement that fell just short of cheering.Harriman Nelson knew exactly how they felt.He had wanted to cheer as well, but decorum being what it was….“Carry on, Commander,” he said.**

**  
**

**“Aye, aye, sir.”** ****

**  
**

**“And Commander.”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, Admiral?” Morton said.** ****

**  
**

**“The equipment I ordered?”** ****

**  
**

**“Stowed, sir,” Morton said crisply.Anxiety was written all over his face, along with the unsaid, ‘Let’s get this show on the road.’**

**  
**

**Harriman Nelson really smiled for the first time in heaven only knew when.“Very good, Chip.I think I will go down and check it out.And our guests?”**

**  
**

**“They are settled in the guest quarters and Captain Crane’s quarters,” Morton responded.**

**  
**

**“Very good. Perhaps I should see them first.”**

**  
**

**Morton said nothing.**

**  
**

**Nelson had a half smile on his lips.“Well, Commander, what are we waiting for?Take her out.”**

**  
**

**“Aye, aye, Admiral,” Morton said happily, jumping to action and giving several orders almost at once.**

**  
**

**Nelson strode out of the room.When he arrived at Lee’s cabin, he hesitated.He thought he heard two muffled voices.It was hard to figure out if they were angry voices, or just loud.Finally he knocked, then opened the door when one voice bid him enter.**

**  
**

**“Ah, welcome, Admiral Nelson,” the very proper British voice called out.**

**  
**

**“Thank you, Mr. Prandjit,” the admiral replied.“Mr. Ajaamil.”He walked in the room, wondering which one of the two men had been the cause of Lee’s capture and Dr. Mendez’ death.**


	11. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 10**

**  
**

**  
**

**It was dark in the room, the dimness of late afternoon, early evening.Crane sat up in shock, the tendrils of another nightmare giving way to total wakefulness.He was even more shocked when he realized that nothing inside his body was bothering him.Only his head hurt from Mendon’s blows. Gingerly, Lee felt his cheek.Mendon had surprising force in that small body.He hoped that his torturer was feeling some kind of pain in his knuckles.The captain couldn’t help but wonder about the respite.Why?**

**  
**

**Slowly, he got up and looked around.Everything seemed to be as it had been when he left this morning—the groove in the door, the screw hidden in a crack in the door, even La’ani’s small plastic jug stored far under the cot.**

**  
**

**For whatever reason, Lee was going to be grateful for whatever reprieve he could get, for however long it lasted.He checked the tiny crack he had enlarged the night before and saw that it wouldn’t take much more digging before he would be through to the wooden bolt on the other side.That would be the difficult part, working the heavy bolt loose.He knew he could do it, however.He had to.He studied what he could see of the hallway from his door.There were still guards and the other prisoners were just now being herded back to their cells for the evening.As impatient as he was, it was definitely too early to work now.Crane would have to wait until full dark and when the guards began to get a bit sleepy and lax.**

**  
**

**Forcing himself to patience, Lee lay back down on his cot, trying to ignore the growling protest of his stomach and the lightheaded feeling he felt.How long?Two days since his last meal?Time had become meaningless since Mendon had given him the psychosis inducing drugs.If it hadn’t been for La’ani’s concoction….Lee wondered about the girl, whose name was so close to that of Kruger’s girlfriend.That had caused a moment of shock when the Hikeruan girl had told him her name.In his chemical induced dementia, he had briefly seen the ghost of Lani in the cell, but then it was gone.There was no doubt that La’ani was for real.He also felt that the girl wasn’t playing some kind of game with him.Like the other Lani, she wouldn’t betray him.**

**  
**

**He must have dozed, because he woke to a gentle pressure on his burned hand.“La’ani?” he murmured.**

**  
**

**“Yes,” she whispered.“You are feeling better?”**

**  
**

**“Mmm, yes,” he replied.“Right now, I’m trying to figure out why the good doctor decided to let me have a day of rest from his drug therapy.”**

**  
**

**“Take each moment as a gift,” she said with a smile, feeling considerable pleasure in the American’s better condition.“The doctor has been busy in his workroom.The leader has called several times but still the doctor works.”**

**  
**

**Lee smiled sourly.“He’s trying to see what horrors he can cook up to make my life more pleasant.”**

**  
**

**La’ani gazed at him curiously for a moment.“You are making a joke, yes?”**

**  
**

**“Yes,” Lee sighed.“Except it’s really no joking matter.”**

**  
**

**“I know.Anyway, Mendon finally left to work on the leader’s project, but I believe it won’t be for very long.”**

**  
**

**“He has his own agenda, and that worries me, too.”** ****

**  
**

**“Agenda?”Her brother had taught her American English in the days before the Leader, Bomar came, but there were still some words that she didn’t know.**

**  
**

**“Plans,” Lee replied.** ****

**  
**

**“And you mentioned something last night.You called it ‘jihad’, I think.”**

**  
**

**“Literally it a holy war, but it’s kind of come to mean any kind of vendetta or plan of revenge, especially against a foe much stronger than you,” Lee explained, eyeing the leaf wrapped packet.** ****

**  
**

**“You are hungry tonight?” she asked, seeing his look.Somehow that made her happy, too.He was entirely too thin, either for Polynesian or for American taste.**

**  
**

**“I’ll say!”She handed him the packet and he continued between mouthfuls.“Mendon may have ties to a terrorist organization, or he just may be using the word for his own use.But he has the medical know-how to create a biological agent that could kill thousands.”If there was some way for the girl to get the word out, but all he could do was simply tell her what was going on.**

**  
**

**La’ani wasn’t sure exactly what Lee had just said, but she was able to understand enough to know that Mendon, the evil one was trying to make more people than just Lee sick.“This is what he gave you?” she asked.**

**  
**

**“I think it’s similar.He’s perfecting it on me.Right now, he has used a non-contagious form of a very virulent and debilitating type of influenza.I think.Sure feels like it.”He sighed.“He wants to test individual results before he puts it in a self-replicating form.”La’ani looked puzzled.“Sorry,” Lee murmured, realizing that English being her second language, she wouldn’t have understood some of what he was saying.“In other words,” Lee tried again.“It can’t spread from person to person, like a cold, but when he knows just what it can do and how much damage it can do, he’ll change it so that people will be able to catch it from other, infected people.”**

**  
**

**La’ani was horror struck.“But the sickness you had . . . to give that to anyone, including children?”**

**  
**

**“Exactly, La’ani,” Lee confirmed.“Your leader hired a viper to work for him.”He pondered as he finished his meal.He had almost told the girl that was why he needed so desperately to escape, but he didn’t want to involve her any further than she already was.What’s more, he certainly didn’t want to incur Bomar’s or Mendon’s wrath against her.**

**  
**

**Once again, La’ani felt the guilt of her past inactions against these evil men.But what could she have done?Anything other than what she did, which was nothing.“My father and brother were here.They were beaten and tortured.My father, before Mendon ever set foot on the island.I think this serpent you are talking about resides in the hearts of both men,” she said bitterly, feeling tears prickling the corners of her eyes.**

**  
**

**Lee was startled and started to ask her more, but a slight noise made them both silent.She got up and took her tray.“Goodnight, Lee.”**

**  
**

**“Goodnight.”** ****

**  
**

**After she had left, he noticed that he was still cradling his burned hand.That had been Bomar, not Mendon.La’ani was right; both were serpents.One was tempered with greed and the other with revenge.He turned his attention back to his hand.Despite La’ani’s patient nursing, it was still almost useless.He would make do, though; he had to.**

**  
**

**Lee dozed off again and sometime later woke up, the tendrils of yet another nightmare in his mind.He sighed.Sleep was going to be a premium if he kept reliving those drug-induced nightmares.But enough of that, he chided himself.There was work to do.**

**  
**

**There was very little light, but he didn’t need any.He could do this blindfolded now.Rubbing his fingers, Lee began the soft scraping that marked the night before.This time there were no interruptions with bouts of sickness and he broke through quickly.A little more and he was able to touch the wooden bolt.Little more, little more and Lee had just enough room to stick the end of the screw into the bolt and maneuver it.**

**  
**

**Sweat rolled down his face and his fingers cramped.He massaged them and continued.Slowly the bolt moved back.Slowly, too slowly, but it came.Finally, the board slid out of its cradle.Lee listened carefully.There was nothing.As quietly as he could, Lee opened the door, checking the lit hallway before venturing out.One of the lights was out._Good!_**

**  
**

**He listened at the kitchen door.No sounds.The cook apparently hadn’t arrived yet.Another stroke of luck.There was time before dawn to get away from here.Silently, Lee slipped through the kitchen and paused at the storage room door.Quiet.Lee pushed through that door.The lights lit the area but there were still pockets of shadow and he kept to those.The beat of the sea grew louder, felt stronger and Lee was drawn to that.**

**  
**

**Suddenly, there was harsh laughter and a net fell over his body.Shock, surprise and anger mingled with despair as Lee realized that he had been set up.They had realized what he was doing and were waiting for him to make another futile attempt to escape.No wonder there hadn’t been any more drugs.He was like a fish on a hook, given that false sense of hope, and allowed to play out the line before being reeled back in for the final capture.Na’alu and another guard wrestled him to the ground and Mendon walked up to him, kicking him savagely in the side.Crane cried out in pain and anger._Damn them!Damn them to hell!_**

** **

** _  
_ **

**“So you felt superior enough to disparage me, did you, Captain.Simply arrogant enough to think you are my better?Who is the more clever now?”**

**  
**

**“Do you want me to take him back to his cell?Tie him there?” the second guard, Teva, Lee believed, asked.**

**  
**

**“No,” Mendon said sharply.“Take him to my lab.I have something very special in mind.”There was more than anger and hatred in the gray eyes, there was a kind of gleeful, predatory hunger.**

**  
**

**Lee was hauled to his feet and the net dragged off.He struggled, but as before, he might as well have been swatting flies for all the good it did against these huge guards.But still he struggled; he had to.He had to, because there was nothing else left to do.And he had to because of what Mendon probably had in mind.Ultimately, Lee Crane had to because if he didn’t, he was afraid he would simply give up.**

**  
**

**In the end, however, Lee was strapped into the chair that had been the instrument of his first torture.Mendon whistled as he pulled a vial from his cabinet.“Do not struggle so, Captain Crane.It is useless.”He plunged the needle into Lee’s shoulder, all the while still talking.“You will very shortly be totally compliant, fulfilling everything I want you to do.I have perfected several new biological and chemical agents and this affords me the opportunity to try a couple of them.”He walked over to his table and picked up a glass, bringing it back to where Lee was now sitting calmly.His mind was more quiet, his anxiety calm.This was the same drug Mendon had used on him once before when he and Bomar were still trying to get Mendez’ information from him.**

**  
**

**“Drink this,” Mendon ordered and held the cup to Lee’s lips.The captain could do nothing except comply, draining the cup.Lee knew what this was, too, and despite the compliance drug that Mendon had given him, still had to bat away the hands of fear that were clawing in his mind.**

**  
**

**Then as the two Polynesians continued to restrain him, Mendon returned to his laboratory table and picked up another smaller vial.Still whistling, he returned.“Hold very still, Captain.”**

**  
**

**Again Lee had to comply as the doctor jerked his head back and quickly squeezed drops of an amber liquid into the captain’s eyes.Lee cried out as the fiery liquid seemed to ignite.He jerked involuntarily out of Mendon’s hands and shook his head violently.“NO!” he screamed, as the fire seemed to eat into his soul.“Please, no more,” he whispered.**

**  
**

**“What did you say?” Mendon asked, laughing.“What was that again?”**

**  
**

**Lee clamped his lips together, but couldn’t hold in the groans from the pain that shot through his head.“Nothing,” he finally gasped, determined not to beg any more.**

**  
**

**Mendon laughed again before continuing.“This one is a biologically enhanced chemical agent.You will feel the same way you do when you are at the ophthalmologist’s office, but more so.And this one doesn’t wear off.”**

**  
**

**Lee felt his vision become blurred and his eyes oversensitive to the bright light.The burning finally subsided to something he could stand, but he finally had to close his eyes against the light.He remembered another time someone had used a chemical agent on his eyes, a dictator of huge ego and temperament as nasty as Mendon’s, but that chemical had worn off within hours.Somehow, Lee didn’t doubt the scientist’s word that such would not be the case here.Mendon left him alone for a while, whistling constantly as he seemingly puttered around his laboratory.The guards’ heavy hands lifted from his shoulders and Lee heard them move away.The little voice that he had come to know so well during some of the earlier truth serum sessions was awakening.**

**  
**

**“How are you feeling, Captain?” Mendon asked jovially.** ****

**  
**

**“Like running a marathon, Mendon.Any more stupid questions?”That voice was telling him he was an idiot to even answer, but he felt an anger that he couldn’t ignore.Either way, he wouldn’t lose or gain anything by being venting his resentment.**

**  
**

**“Captain Crane, please understand; I am in charge. I hold your life in my hands.”** ****

**  
**

**“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”** ****

**  
**

**Mendon was silent for a moment.“Obviously, I didn’t make the first dosage high enough, but no matter.I have other means of measuring the results of my experiments.”**

**  
**

**Lee heard him walking to another part of the laboratory.Then he felt the band around his chest being fastened._What now?_But he said nothing.His stomach was beginning to act up again; not as bad as the last time, but enough to know what was happening.How long before this new viral contagion hit full force?**

**  
**

**One of the guards had offered to tie him up to prevent his escape.Mendon had presented a better plan, Lee thought bitterly.And, it seemed; he had succeeded.As Lee alternately listened to Mendon’s increasingly insipid whistling and fought to control the rising sensation of nausea, he thought about the _Seaview_, his men—home.Occasionally, he dozed and the dozing brought dreams.They were continuations of the nightmare enhancements of past events, grown to monstrous proportion.Then there was an interlude.He saw his father.He had not dreamed of his dad for years, since after he had reconciled with his mother over his career choice.His mother had all but disowned him when he got his appointment to Annapolis.She wanted him safe.The sea wasn’t.It killed; took away those you loved the most.It waited and watched and snatched the unwary—or so it had seemed to Allison Crane.**

**  
**

**It had been dreams of Dad, along with his Aunt Nora’s persistent pleas for reconciliation that had taken him home six years ago.It was about the time of his first submarine command.He remembered how proud he had been; how proud and scared.Half of the men on the boat were older than he was.**

**  
**

**Mother was living in Oklahoma City then.It was probably as far from the ocean as she could get, physically and psychologically.The first day had been stormy, insofar as their interaction was concerned, and he had almost cut the leave short and headed back to Kings Bay, Georgia.Aunt Nora persuaded him to try one more day.**

**  
**

**He had mentioned Dad and the dreams.** ****

**  
**

**“Your father died too young,” his mother stated tersely, pushing a cup of coffee toward him.** ****

**  
**

**Lee remember vividly, watching some of it slop over the edge into the saucer.He sighed.“My cousin Vicky died too young,” he replied, trying very hard not to sound disrespectful.**

**  
**

**“That’s not fair, Lee, and you know it.”**

**  
**

**“Why?” Lee had asked.“It’s all right for someone to be taken out by a drunk driver and it’s not if it’s an accident at sea?”**

**  
**

**“It wasn’t an accident!That idiot that ran into his boat was drunk!”She took in a sobbing breath.“He shouldn’t have even been out there.After his cousin, Len drowned, he had promised.”**

**  
**

**Lee had closed his eyes, trying to also close out the memory.Finally, he said, “Mom, every job, even leisure time includes its own hazards.”**

**  
**

**“It should have never happened,” Allison Crane moaned.Aunt Nora sat in a chair by the stove, present, but not participating.Lee had thought that perhaps she was just there to referee and make sure the mother and son didn’t end up having a knock down drag-out argument.**

**  
**

**“What?” Lee asked.“Vicky or Dad?”And he realized it had hurt as soon as he said it.**

**  
**

**She stared at him in shock, her eyes filling with tears.Lee pushed the coffee aside and reached his hand toward his mother’s, trying very hard to understand her obsessive fears.Their fingers touched but she didn’t move.“Mom, I’m sorry.But this is what I have always wanted to do.I’m happy in the control room of a submarine.I love the sea.And I feel I am damned good at what I’ve chosen to do.”He tried to catch her gaze, but she wouldn’t look at him.He felt a squeezing pain in his heart.For a long time, Lee hadn’t wanted to admit it, but it was extremely important to him for his mother to understand what he was doing, and why he was doing it.Ultimately, he just wanted his mother to accept and to be proud of him.He drew in a deep breath.“I hurt when Dad died, too.”**

**  
**

**His mother gave a sharp sob.“But you promised you wouldn’t have anything more to do with the sea.”**

**  
**

**“That was in the emotions following Dad’s death, Mother.You know that.I was so young,” Lee said softly, again trying to shut out unwanted feelings; things that he had shut away for years.“I tried, I really did, but it was a promise I couldn’t keep.”**

**  
**

**Allison Crane finally laid her fingers on his, looked into his eyes and nodded.“I know, Lee, and that has frightened me all the more.”She sighed, he breath catching in a soft sob.“The more I tried to tear that obsession of the sea from you, the more you seemed to embrace it.”Several tears fell from her eyes landing on their outstretched hands. “I lost him and I am so afraid that I will lose you, too.It’s as though the sea is waiting for all of you.Like it’s some kind of malevolent entity.”She paused, took a sobbing breath and then continued.“When I read about that submarine that sank down in that trench, I cried every night for weeks.”**

**  
**

**“I’m sorry.I didn’t know.I wish you had contacted me.We could have talked,” Lee replied, knowing all the while that it probably wouldn’t have done the least bit of good.Neither of them at that time would probably have been able to understand the other’s viewpoint, much less accept the other’s feelings.**

**  
**

**Apparently his mother was thinking the same thing.“I doubt it, Lee.”**


	12. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 11**

****

**  
**

**Neither of them said a word for several minutes, but her hand continued to linger on his.He felt her eyes traveling down his lean frame, and remembered how, when he was growing up, she had always said that he needed to fill out.The ticking of the little cat-faced wall clock was the only sound breaking the silence.Her hand pulled away slightly and Lee looked up to see her eyes still on his face.“At least your father had the good sense to stay on the surface, for all the good it did him.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee smiled, but it was short lived.**

**“I didn’t even have a body to bury,” she went on and Lee’s heart chilled.**

**  
**

**Only witnesses could verify that Benjamin Crane had died when the larger boat had slammed into his.The body had been swept away in the under currents of the bay.“I know, Mom.”His voice was soft; Lee was remembering his own grief.That had haunted his dreams for several years.They had a memorial service with an empty flag-draped coffin, his father having been a veteran of World War II, as well as a fifteen-year veteran of the fire department.Lee had not cried then; he couldn’t, guilt had squeezed his heart too tightly to allow tears.**

**  
**

**“I still feel the hurt that you went against my wishes, Lee, and got that appointment to Annapolis,” she said, almost repeating what she had said only a few moments ago.** ****

**  
**

**It was the never-ending argument.So old, no winner.“I know, Mom,” Lee had said, laying his own hurt on the table.“And it hurt that I had no one by my side at the Mother’s Reception when I graduated.”** ****

**  
**

**Nora started but didn’t say anything.Lee glanced at her and almost imperceptibly shook his head.She had offered to take Allison’s place, but Lee, in his stubborn pride, had refused.Lee sighed.“Please, Mother, we both hurt.It was painful, still is painful, for both of us.But somehow, because . . . because we love each other, we have to come to some kind of understanding.We have to accept and go on.Even if it’s partial acceptance, that’s okay.”He paused.“I need to know that you are praying for my success as well as for my safety.”** ****

**  
**

**She stared into his eyes; eyes that he had been told were so much like his father’s.“But I do pray for you, Lee.”** ****

**  
**

**“To find something safe to do,” Nora had said dryly.His mother had glared at her, but Nora didn’t flinch.“Allison, it’s time to accept the fact that Lee is more like his father every day.”Allison nodded.“Yes,” Nora added.“And he’s courageous, stubborn, determined and . . . and very happy where he is and with what he’s done so far in his life.”She looked apologetically at her nephew, but he stayed silent.“Do you know that with this command, Lee’s the youngest submarine captain in U.S. Naval history?” Nora went on.** ****

**  
**

**His mother looked startled and then studied Lee again.“No,” she said weakly.“You are?”** ****

**  
**

**Lee nodded, feeling self-conscious.**

**  
**

**“And you truly want to go down underwater in that kind of ship?”** ****

**  
**

**Lee smiled.“Not a ship, Mom.Submarines are ‘boats.’”** ****

**  
**

**Nora had suddenly burst out laughing, breaking the tension as nothing else could have.“He told me the same thing when he was assigned to the_ Nautilus_,” she said, still laughing.**

**  
**

**Allison Crane studied him with new eyes, as though she hadn’t really seen him since before he had gone to the Naval Academy.**

**  
**

**And in reality, she hadn’t.He had only come by occasionally after his appointment.Kind of a familial duty at holidays when he couldn’t get out of it.His mother’s hand encircled his; the one with his father’s ring on it.She nodded.“You are so much like your father.You look like him; enough to make me wonder if I had gone back in time.And your eyes have the same intensity, the same conviction to do what’s best.”She looked away and another tear escaped from beneath closed eyelids.“I have to learn to live with your choices.”** ****

**  
**

**“Mom, I would like you to not just live with my choice,” he said softly.**

**  
**

**She studied him again.“The youngest submarine commander?”He nodded.“I am proud of you, Lee.I always knew that whatever you chose, you would excel init,” she whispered.“But I will never, ever stop being afraid.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee pulled back enough to take a sip of the now cold coffee, but he continued to look deeply into his mother’s eyes.He laid the cup down.“Let me include you in a secret, Mom,” he said.“Sometimes I am, too.”** ****

**  
**

**She nodded.“Your father used to say something like.”** ****

**  
**

**“He did?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes.He so worried that he would make a wrong decision and cause an injury or death to one of the men on his watch.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee remembered how startled he had been at that moment.He felt the same emotions.Oh, God, how he had felt the same emotions!** ****

**  
**

**“I see, by your face, you have the same concerns, son.”** ****

**  
**

**“What did you tell him?” Lee asked softly, leaning forward.** ****

**  
**

**“I told him to always listen to his heart and do what is right.”She smiled.“And I give you the same advice.”** ****

**  
**

**“Thanks,” Lee murmured, feeling a peculiar contentment steal over him.The rest of the day had been filled with laughter and casual bantering.And he had, after all the years in the Navy, finally had a chance to get some of the cooking that he had remembered fondly as a kid.**

**  
**

**When he had left the next day, dressed in his stiffly pressed khakis, she perused him top to bottom and then made him and Nora wait while she ran back into the house.Quickly she came back out, a camera in her hand.Motioning Nora out of the way, she took Lee’s picture.Then she had almost literally thrown herself into his arms.“It took too long, Lee.Please don’t wait so long to see me next time.”** ****

**  
**

**“I won’t, but don’t wait so long to invite me, either,” he said with a happy smile.**

**  
**

**“I’m still not totally reconciled to this, but I accept your choice and I am proud of what you’ve done with it,” she whispered.When she drew back, she added, “And I know your father would be proud as well.”** ****

**  
**

**He had nodded, unable to speak.The next time he had visited, the picture she had taken was next to Dad’s in his fireman’s dress uniform.**

**  
**

**A needle’s prick jerked that dream/remembrance away.“Memories of home, eh?” Mendon’s voice mocked.“Enjoy them.You won’t have them very long.”He laughed and Lee felt his blood rising hotly to his face.It boiled past his fear and raged beyond his endurance.** ****

**  
**

**Without opening his eyes, Crane struck, his right hand grabbing fabric and jerking it close.Mendon spluttered, beating him with fists that were ineffectual against Lee’s rage.**

**  
**

**He said quietly, but very succinctly, “Mendon, wherever you go when you die, I will follow you.Even to the bowels of hell.And if I die first, I’ll be waiting for you.”** ****

**  
**

**Then as strong hands grabbed at him, Lee shoved Mendon away from him.His breath was in panting gasps, his insides roiling with sudden pain and nausea, and this time he was unable to control it.Heaving until there was nothing left, Lee sank back into the depths of semi-consciousness.Again, there were the monsters and the demons, but interspersed there were glimpses of his father.“Courage, son.Hang in there.”And he remembered no more.**

**  
**

**Lee awoke to someone cleaning him up.The cool cloth felt refreshing against his face and chest.Through slitted eyes, he saw that it was Teva and Na’alu.“Careful, guys,” he murmured.“I may be contagious.”**

**  
**

**They looked apprehensively at him and then at Mendon, who simply laughed coldly.“Maybe in time, Captain, if you live that long.You see, that is my next step after I get the information from you that the Leader wants so badly.To make this agent self-replicating.I am so close, so very close.”Mendon stroked his goatee and laughed as the two Polynesians visibly relaxed.“You tried to goad me by comparing me to Dr. Mengele.You have no idea who I am, Captain.Dr. Mengele was the most audacious, forward thinking scientist of his day.He dared to do things that no one else had the drive or the courage to do.”** ****

**  
**

**“He was a slipshod scientist at best.He was only interested in sadistic and barbarous torture,” Lee shot back.Mendon’s stinging slap across his face didn’t surprise him, but it had his ears ringing for a few minutes.Crane ignored it.“He breathed misery, his cologne was the stench of burning flesh.His pleasure was….”** ****

**  
**

**Again, Lee was struck with a blow that left him only half conscious.**

**  
**

**“I will do things that Dr. Mengele only dreamed of, Captain.Not even the Republic allowed me the freedom to continue his experiments as I have been able to do here….”Lee finally slipped into a blessed, pain free unconsciousness.**

**  
**

**================================**

**  
**

**Harriman gazed at the specifications on his desk for the new propulsion unit, but he wasn’t really seeing them.He kept coming back to the idea that one of the two men they had brought on board was an agent of the man ONI had set out to find.Chip had questioned his sanity on having either man on board.But there had been no time for Prandjit to train him on the use of the machine that would extract the information from Lee’s mind.And Ajaamil?Well, if the men were on board the _Seaview_ they couldn’t be sending information to Bomar. Their cabins and their belongings had been scanned and triple scanned, and each man had been subjected to a strip search upon boarding the sub.Each one also had a shadow, day and night.** ****

**  
**

**There was a knock on his door.Sighing, the admiral set the pencil down, rolled up the blueprints and placed them in his wall safe.The knock came again.“Come in,” he said.It was Chip.He looked exasperated as well as anxious.** ****

**  
**

**“Admiral?”** ****

**  
**

**“Sit down, Chip,” Nelson said.“What’s bothering you?”** ****

**  
**

**The exec dropped into the chair with a sigh.“Prandjit.He’s driving everyone nuts.”** ****

**  
**

**“In what way?”Nelson was puzzled.That was not the complaint he expected.** ****

**  
**

**“Looking everywhere.Asking questions.Making suggestions.”** ****

**  
**

**“Making suggestions?”** ****

**  
**

**“Mainly Cookie and Doc, but the CMO is ready to put the sick bay off limits to him.”** ****

**  
**

**Nelson pondered.He had been offered some of the Nepalese man’s tea and assumed that others had been introduced to the brew’s merits as well.“Been around the radioman a lot?”** ****

**  
**

**“Like wanting to send a message?” Chip asked.Nelson nodded.“No,” the exec answered.** ****

**  
**

**Nelson rubbed his chin in thought.“What about Ajaamil?”** ****

**  
**

**“Been very quiet, stayed in his cabin most of the time.He did ask to send a message to his brother a couple of days ago, but that’s it.”** ****

**  
**

**“Request his presence here in my cabin,” the admiral said, feeling a great sense of predatory satisfaction.He had suspected the Indian from the beginning and this morning he had received information that confirmed his suspicions.** ****

**  
**

**“Ajaamil?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes.”**

**  
**

**Chip’s eyebrows raised in surprise.“Why him, Admiral?”** ****

**  
**

**Nelson smiled.“Prandjit acts more like someone who is genuinely curious, kind of like a typical tourist.And I recently received other information that leads me to Ajaamil.I also just wanted to watch him a while.I have been getting regular reports from Riley.”** ****

**  
**

**Chip nodded.“Aye, sir.I’ll have Mr. Ajaamil here shortly.”** ****

**  
**

**“I think it’s time to get some information from our government courier.See whose paying him the most.”** ****

**  
**

**Again, Chip nodded.Within a short time, Ajaamil was being escorted into the cabin.Morton was about to leave, but Nelson motioned for him to remain.**

**  
**

**“What can I do for you, Admiral?” the Indian asked pleasantly.A slight sheen of sweat on his brow seemed to belie the easy greeting.** ****

**  
**

**“You can help me to clarify a few things, Mr. Ajaamil,” Nelson leaned back in his seat, his eyes boring into the dark ones across the desk from him.“For instance, I am curious as to why you have two bank accounts—one in New Dehli and the other one a highly secret account in Switzerland.”** ****

**  
**

**Ajaamil sucked in a quick breath, but then smiled softly.“That is illegal?”** ****

**  
**

**Nelson smiled and leaned back in his chair.“No, of course not, but you are an employee of the United States government.I used to be.I know about pay scales.”He continued to look steadily into the Indian’s eyes.**

**  
**

**“You are mistaken, Admiral,” Ajaamil said, his voice slightly unsteady.“It is money from home.”** ****

**  
**

**Without saying a word, Nelson tossed an envelope to Ajaamil.It landed on the edge of the desk, teetering precariously.The agent stared at it, but didn’t touch it.** ****

**  
**

**“Take it, Mr. Ajaamil,” the admiral said softly.But there was nothing soft about the tone.Like the suddenly ice blue eyes, Nelson’s voice was steel hard.“Take it.”Ajaamil took the envelope.“Open it,” the admiral ordered.** ****

**  
**

**The Indian glanced for a letter opener, but there wasn’t one.He tore the letter open with his fingers and then pulled out the contents.He stared at the letter transfixed and then looked up at Nelson with terrified eyes.**

**  
**

**“I have very competent people working for me, Mr. Ajaamil, especially when they know what they are looking for.I got this information this morning.”Harriman paused a few moments before he continued.“Who are you working with now?Bomar?” Nelson queried.Ajaamil shook his head.The admiral leaned forward.He was like a cobra ready to strike.In all of this, he had felt helpless, but now, before him, he had the means to answer many questions.And if it didn’t do anything to help Lee, at least he could find out why.“I am authorized to use any method I need to get the additional information.And I am in the mood to do just that,” he said quietly.It was a voice that had made anyone from the newest seaman to the most grizzled old-timer quake in his shoes.**

**  
**

**That, along with the letter, seemed to shake Ajaamil deeply.“Bomar provided my payment,” Ajaamil replied quickly.He appeared deflated.“But my contact is Paul Mendon.”** ****

**  
**

**Nelson started in surprise and felt the fingers of horror creeping in his guts.“Dr. Paul Mendon?”Ajaamil nodded.“He’s working with Bomar?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes.”Ajaamil looked desperate.“You will protect me from him?He would execute me if he knew I had told you.”** ****

**  
**

**“I know that,” Nelson said quietly, his voice deathly cold.“Consider yourself lucky that I am a civilized man.Or I might be tempted to tear you apart with my bare hands.”He lit a cigarette and took a drag, watching as Ajaamil unraveled.It was not unsatisfying.“As long as you are on the _Seaview_ you will be safe.But who, Mr. Ajaamil, is protecting Captain Lee Crane from Mendon?”**


	13. Foam on the Large Wave

**  
** **Chapter 12**

**  
**

**  
**

**Nelson leaned forward across his desk, his steely eyes seeming to bore through the double agent.“I will protect you as long as I believe Lee Crane is alive and as long as I feel you are giving me correct information.”**

**  
**

**Ajaamil swallowed hard and nodded.**

**  
**

**“Was Captain Crane taken to Hikeru?” Nelson asked.**

**  
**

**“Yes, he was taken there directly from Taipei.”** ****

**  
**

**The admiral sighed.“And is Mendon still working for the Republic?”Ajaamil shook his head.Nelson pounced.“No one quits the Republic.Not totally.”** ****

**  
**

**“Admiral, the Republic’s spy network unraveled after the coup d’etat a year ago. That was when Dr. Mendon decided to work with Bomar and help him in his ambitions.”** ****

**  
**

**Harriman leaned back in satisfaction.So the rumors had been true.Despite the outwardly smooth transition between one ruthless leader and another, some of the inner workings of the People’s Republic had been damaged.“And it doesn’t hurt to be able to experiment in a remote location as well,” Nelson said caustically.“Where does that leave you, Mr. Ajaamil? You are a smaller fish and much more vulnerable.”** ****

**  
**

**“That left me with a new identity, Admiral.But after so long even that becomes vulnerable.”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, I suppose so, Mr. Chonil,” Harriman said evenly.**

**  
**

**Ajaamil/Chonil smiled softly.“My bosses always said you were too smart.I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t at least partially responsible for the Republic’s . . . upheaval.”** ****

**  
**

**“You give me too much credit,” replied Nelson tersely.“There is still power in the Republic.”Chonil just shrugged.The admiral continued.“You know I will keep my end of the bargain.You will keep yours.If I think you are trying to work another double cross, you will be in the brig, under sedation so fast even you will be surprised.And it will only take suspicion.”** ****

**  
**

**“I understand, Admiral.”** ****

**  
**

**“Have you been to the island?” the admiral asked.Chonil shook his head.“Very well.Nelson called for security, then turned to Morton.“Chip, escort Mr. Chonil to an extra secure cabin.Keep a guard outside at all times.If there is suspicious activity, follow procedure alpha.”** ****

**  
**

**“Aye, aye, sir.”** ****

**  
**

**“And come back when you’re through.”**

**  
**

**Chip nodded and left with the prisoner and the security team.**

**  
**

**Harriman Nelson saw in his mind that early morning over a month ago when Lee paddled away.He pulled a cigarette from a half empty pack by his elbow, but didn’t light it.Instead, he got up and headed toward the control room.As had been the case since they left Santa Barbara, all eyes focused on him when he arrived.“Mr. O’Brien.”**

**  
**

**“Yes, Admiral?”** ****

**  
**

**Nelson motioned to the chart table. “I want the general course to continue toward Wellington, but I want a more northerly route, one that will make us appear to be casting about if anyone in the vicinity is keeping tabs on our movements.”O’Brien nodded.“And I want absolute radio silence established now, with a guard on duty to make sure no one is tempted to break it.”** ****

**  
**

**O’Brien looked puzzled, but didn’t question the admiral’s orders.“Aye, sir,” was his only response.** ****

**  
**

**“And I will brief Commander Morton,” Nelson added, circumventing another question.**

**  
**

**Sparks was on duty.He, too, was surprised, but like O’Brien, he acknowledged the orders and went back to his watch.A man-at-arms showed up as the admiral left the control room.He was back at his cabin in a few moments but wasn’t surprised to see Morton already waiting.“Come on in, Chip.Pour yourself a cup of coffee and make yourself comfortable.”** ****

**  
**

**Morton poured a cup for the admiral as well as himself before he set down.He read the brief that the admiral slid across the table to him.“You knew all along, didn’t you?”**

**  
**

**Nelson sighed.“I guessed when he showed up at the Institute.What he brought was too amateurish, sloppy.It was like he was frightened of something and forgot how to be a successful agent.I did some checking and found all the information.”** ****

**  
**

**“And brought him on board,” Chip said, halfway accusing.** ****

**  
**

**Nelson laughed.“Think about it, Chip.Where better to keep a double agent under wraps.”**

**  
**

**“Admiral, may I assume that Ajaamil or Chonil or whoever he is, that his news wasn’t welcome?”** ****

**  
**

**Nelson picked up the cigarette and a lighter.Then he put it down again.After Lee had left and his anxiety had him smoking on board again, another scathing lecture from the CMO had elicited a promise to quit the habit once and for all.He had already broken that promise a couple of times.With a sigh, Harriman stuffed the cigarette back into the carton..“No, Chip.Now I don’t know what to expect.”He paused, then crushed the pack in a tightly clenched fist.“Or maybe I do and that’s what bothers me.”** ****

**  
**

**“Can you explain, Admiral?”** ****

**  
**

**“Apparently you’ve never heard of Paul Mendon,” Nelson said.His executive officer shook his head.**

**  
**

**“He used to be the Republic’s chief biological and chemical warfare scientist.Said to be a genius at the fine art of torture, too.”** ****

**  
**

**Morton gasped.“And Lee’s been in his hands for at least two weeks?”Nelson nodded.“May God help him,” Chip murmured.“Do you think this Mendon will be able to get the information?”** ****

**  
**

**“I don’t know.What worries me most is what lasting effects the attempt will have on Lee.”** ****

**  
**

**“Then it’s absolutely imperative that we take extra precautions to assure they don’t know we’re coming.”**

**  
**

**“It’s been done, Chip,” Nelson said and outlined his new orders.**

**  
**

**Chip nodded.“It appears that this new course will actually save a little time, too.”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, almost half a day.”** ****

**  
**

**Just then, the intercom buzzed.“Admiral, security reports that the prisoner has apparently committed suicide.”** ****

**  
**

**Nelson and Morton looked at each other in surprise.**

**  
**

**“I guess he didn’t trust me to protect him,” Nelson said tersely.**

**  
**

**“Fear is a very real force,” Chip added.**

**  
**

**Indeed it was, Harriman thought as he got up.“I’d better go down and check.I would hate to think some other double agent could be on board to snafu this mission.”** ****

**  
**

**“Prandjit?”** ****

**  
**

**Sighing, Harriman just shrugged.“I don’t think so, but I just don’t know for sure anymore.”** ****

**  
**

**  
**

**==========================**

**  
**

**After hours in the lab, alternately being pumped with truth drugs, hallucinogens, exacerbated by the biochemical Mendon had forced him to drink, Lee was finally back in his cell.He was exhausted, physically and emotionally._Why can’t it have an end?_ he wondered.In the dimness, his eyes didn’t hurt quite as much, although his vision was still very blurred.He lay quietly on the cot.There was nothing else he could do.His head and stomach didn’t protest nearly as much when he was still._What bright ideas do you have now, hot shot_? he thought bitterly.Absolutely nothing.If the tracer had worked long enough to give the _Seaview_ a handle on his location, they would have been here by now.He was on his own and he was effectively shackled to Dr. Doom’s torture chamber.Lee felt a ‘flu’ moment coming on and took a couple of deep breaths to try and bring it under control.** ****

**  
**

**La’ani?Maybe she could send a message stateside, but then he wondered if she even had access to public communications.Lee got the impression that Bomar controlled everything—except Mendon, of course.Laughing bitterly, he thought that some day Mendon was going to rear up and bite the hand that was feeding him._No, not going to involve La’ani any more than I already have.Don’t want her down here as a prisoner._**

**  
**

**Lee must have dozed off because a light touch startled him.From his sleep, he imagined Mendon, hypo in hand.He cried out and tried to knock the hand away.**

**  
**

**“Shh,” La’ani admonished, afraid that the noise would bring someone.**

**  
**

**“What?” he asked groggily.The door behind her was open and searingly bright light caused him to blink and rub his eyes._Open?_She had never left the door that widely open before.Her face was a blur but he thought he saw her smiling.** ****

**  
**

**“Come,” she ordered softly.** ****

**  
**

**“What?” he repeated, not moving.He wondered if he was having one of his dreams/nightmares and the door would close in his face and La’ani would turn into Mendon with another hypodermic in his hand.** ****

**  
**

**Although she understood his reticence, they needed to leave now, or there would be no escape.“Lee,” she said, exasperated.“Come on!”** ****

**  
**

**Then Lee understood.She was helping him escape.“La’ani, I . . . uh, you’ll get in trouble.”** ****

**  
**

**She laughed softly, although there was no mirth there.“I can’t be more in trouble, I think.My father was brought here and my brother.My brother died here and my father’s body broken here.I get to work here,” she reminded him.“It was bad before, it is even worse now.”** ****

**  
**

**“Mendon?” he asked, still trying to shake the cobwebs from his mind._So tired!_“I’m sorry, La’ani.About your father and brother.”**

**  
**

**“Yes, now come on,” she said brusquely, tugging at his arm.Now wasn’t the time to discuss old hurts and horrors.They had to leave now!** ****

**  
**

**He sat up, felt the nausea increase with the movement and waited a moment for his body to stop protesting.Then he slowly stood up.He felt La’ani’s anxiety, but could do nothing to speed up his progress.**

**  
**

**“We’ll go through the kitchen and through the storage cave,” she explained in a whisper as they left his cell.** ****

**  
**

**“Wait a minute,” Lee said, stopping in his doorway.“Isn’t there usually some guard around here?”** ****

**  
**

**“Teva, and he was called to the Leaders quarters,” she replied.“So we have to hurry!After we get out of here, I will lead you to a secret place where I have been gathering things for the time I escape Hikeru.There will be others there who will help us.”** ****

**  
**

**“You’ve been planning?” he asked.** ****

**  
**

**“Shh!” she warned, tugging on his arm.“I will answer your questions when we are away from here.”**

**  
**

**They continued slowly through the brightly lit corridor, Lee keeping his eyes shut.Then something occurred to him and he stopped short.**

**  
**

**“What is it?” she hissed.“We have to go.”She was feeling exasperation, even though she knew Lee was in no shape to do anything quickly, including think.** ****

**  
**

**“No, the antidotes,” Lee said, turning toward the laboratory.He remembered Mendon’s words and his quick glance toward the second cabinet.** ****

**  
**

**“What?” she asked.** ****

**  
**

**“The medicines that will cure what Mendon has developed to give people.”** ****

**  
**

**“Your doctors cannot figure out a cure?”They had no time, La’ani thought, desperate.** ****

**  
**

**Lee continued toward the laboratory.“If Mendon starts a sickness among a large populations, having those counter-agents will help doctors tremendously.Probably save hundreds or thousands of lives.”**

**  
**

**La’ani sighed, knowing he was right, but fearing if they took too long.“I will check and see if anyone is there.You wait here in the shadows.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee nodded and leaned heavily against the cool wall.**

**  
**

**Soon she was back.“Come,” she whispered and almost dragged him into the room.“Where are these things you need?”** ****

**  
**

**Lee turned in the direction of the two cabinets.Everything seemed to waver and dance.His eyes burned horribly.“Dim the lights if you can,” he told her.“And see if you can find a water-tight plastic bag.Something that can be easily carried.”La’ani flipped a switch and half of the lights went out._Much better_, he thought in relief.** ****

**  
**

**Lee walked over to the cabinet and touched it.No alarms.Somehow, he didn’t think that would be the case here.Mendon was lord over his manor and didn’t expect the serfs to rebel.He couldn’t discern much more than the outlines, so he ran his fingers along the front.Lee felt a small handle and an equally small projection that could only be a key.Turning it, the prisoner almost laughed at this tiny piece of good fortune._Why that arrogant…._That Mendon was so confident in his superiority that he wouldn’t even safeguard his discoveries was incredible.He opened the door.“La’ani?”**

**  
**

**“I’m right here,” she replied anxiously, almost in his ear.“We need to hurry.”** ****

**  
**

**“I know.Do you have what I need?”** ****

**  
**

**“This is the best I could find,” she whispered.** ****

**  
**

**Lee peered closely at the waterproof canvas bag.“It’ll be fine,” he said softly.“Be careful putting them in.We’ll probably have to rewrap them later.”As he handed her the vials, he continued.“It’s vitally important that these get to someone who can study and duplicate them.”** ****

**  
**

**“Someone like a scientist or doctor?” she asked awkwardly.** ****

**  
**

**Lee could tell her concentration was more on packing the small containers than in idle conversation.“Yeah, like Admiral Nelson.”She didn’t say anything but he could figure that as curious as she usually was, La’ani would be asking later.He groped along each shelf to make sure he had everything, then he turned to La’ani.“Go,” he hissed, pointing to the door.“Don’t let anyone get those vials.”** ****

**  
**

**Even though he kept his eyes to mere slits, the light was still too much.They watered and smarted and Lee cursed Mendon under his breath as he followed the girl.She went through the door just as the one behind him opened.Lee froze, then realized that he could be easily be seen, even in the dim lights.He turned and made out one of the Polynesian guards staring at him dumb-founded.Lee swiped the back of his hand across his eyes and crouched as the guard mobilized and rushed toward him.**

**  
**

**When the large man was almost on him, Lee sidestepped and attempted to trip the guard.He was only partially successful.The Polynesian stumbled and fell to his knees, but he reached out and grabbed Lee by the right arm, pulling him to the ground on top of him.Making a half fist with his injured hand, Lee struck the guard against the side of his head and slipped from his grasp.**

**  
**

**With a cry of pain and anger, the Polynesian jumped up and charged him.The burned hand was throbbing and his stomach was knotting in pain.Still Lee waited, hoping for one small stroke of luck; something in the morass he had been subjected to the past weeks.It came when he banged back against Mendon’s experiment table. Lee grunted in pain, but his hand made contact with a two-foot rod.Grabbing it, Lee plied it like a sword. The guard backed away just out of reach and then when he saw an opening, leaped in and caught Lee’s wrist in a vise-like grip, wrenching the rod painfully from his hand.Lee felt the tendons creak even as the guard bore him back with amazing force against the table.**

**  
**

**His arm, still held tightly in the guard’s grasp, hit the edge of the metal table.Pain from the blow shot through his arm and into his chest and he cried out at this latest addition to his misery.The guard released him as he slid to the ground, sobbing for breath.**


	14. Foam on the Large Wave

**  
** **Chapter 13**

**  
**

**  
**

**La’ani slipped through the corridor toward the kitchen, carefully cradling the pouch containing the mysterious bottles against her body.It was very quiet.She didn’t even hear the American behind her and she turned to check.He wasn’t there.Lee had been right behind her, but for some reason had not followed her through the door.She padded back to the door to the laboratory where she heard a muffled cry of pain and the sound of scuffling.She found Teva standing over Lee, his fist ready to strike.His back was to her and she rushed to the two men, grabbing a rod from the floor.She didn’t hesitate; La’ani swung, hitting Teva on the back of the head.The guard fell next to Lee. The American didn’t move, but continued to lay huddled at the base of the table, eyes tightly closed.He was biting his lower lip, but his face was suffused with pain.**

**  
**

**“Lee,” she said, touching him on the arm.**

**  
**

**“No, please, don’t touch it,” he moaned.**

**  
**

**“Lee,” she repeated.** ****

**  
**

**He seemed to hear her for the first time and realize who it was.“La’ani, promise me you’ll get those vials to a doctor,” he murmured.Then his voice became more fervent, even anxious.“Promise me, La’ani.”** ****

**  
**

**“We will both get them to a doctor, or to your Admiral Nelson,” she assured him.** ****

**  
**

**He laughed bitterly.“No, not me,” he said and then paused to suck in a deep breath.He swallowed hard and continued, “Can’t see, think my arm’s broken, burned hand.Sick as hell.”** ****

**  
**

**“Lee, I will not leave you here with Mendon or the leader.I saw what the leader did to my father and brother.I have seen what the evil one has done since he came here.I vowed never to let something like that happen again, but I did.I was afraid and others, including the other American, died.”**

**  
**

**“I’ll hold you back.Liability,” Crane said.**

**  
**

**La’ani helped him sit up.He let her, but didn’t make any other move, nor did he open his eyes.“No, Lee.Broken arms, burns heal.Those vials have the cure for the other things.Come, let us get out of here before Mamala comes to cook breakfast.”**

**  
**

**For another moment, he sat quietly, then he sighed and smiled.“Yeah, I guess I’d really like to disappoint Mendon.”With La’ani’s help, Lee slowly got to his feet.She gathered up the container and then took Lee’s good arm, guiding him out of the room.He seemed to gain a measure of strength as they continued, but still their pace was excruciatingly slow.The kitchen was dark, but La’ani knew it well.**

**  
**

**The American pulled out of her grasp and she turned to him.“Darker in here.Can see a little bit,” he whispered.He had placed his still numb arm into his waistband, immobilizing the arm.He noticed her looking at him.“Thank you,” he said.** ****

**  
**

**“I have done nothing that I shouldn’t have done for so many of my kinsmen in the past,” she replied.**

**  
**

**“No, thank you for making me realize something important,” he said and then he took a deep breath.“To never give up.”** ****

**  
**

**That startled her.Given his horrible experiences of the past two weeks…. Had it been that long, she asked herself?Yes, given all of that, she didn’t blame him back there in the laboratory for wanting to give up.Even now, he appeared to be at the end of his endurance.**

**  
**

**“I’ve lived with that for so long . . . never giving up.I . . . I had forgotten for a short while.”**

**  
**

**She had to think of something to take his mind from his injuries and sickness.“There is another reason I am helping you,” she said suddenly as they reached the door to the storage cavern.** ****

**  
**

**He closed his eyes as she opened the door into the more brightly lit cavern.“What?”** ****

**  
**

**“I want to see that ship you keep talking about—_Seaview_.”He looked puzzled.“You talked about it in your dreams,” La’ani explained.**

**  
**

**He nodded.“Quite a boat,” he murmured.“When we’re somewhere more safe, I’ll tell you about her.”** ****

**  
**

**La’ani smiled.She imagined so.That and a few dreams referring to friends or family had been the only pleasant ones interspersed with the terrible nightmares the American had experienced since early in his captivity.“I look forward to it,” she whispered.“Now we must be very quiet.There will be a guard around here somewhere.”** ****

**  
**

**And there was.She held her breath when he passed by them huddling behind some boxes.He passed by them again on his way back to the outside.Several times she heard Lee stifle moans.**

**  
**

**When she whispered that it was clear, he hissed back, “Let’s get out of here before I do something stupid—like give you away.”**

**  
**

**“You are doing fine, Lee.”But she was worried—and afraid.What would happen to her if they were caught?Then she berated herself.Her thoughts were unworthy, like the ones she had had when she had sat by and felt helpless as her brother had been murdered.And when she had done nothing when her father had been tortured as well.She had to get Lee out of here.There would be no other chance.** ****

**  
**

**They were fortunate in that they were able to slip past the guard and into the night without incident.“We need to get as far as we can before dawn,” she said in his ear.His good arm was now draped over her shoulder.La’ani didn’t know how long she could continue.His body felt hot and by his own admission, he was very weak. She only hoped that the grandmother, A’ona Matua, had something to help him—that is if they made it to the village.** ****

**  
**

**Lee marveled at the girl’s strength and resolve.And he worried at the danger he posed for her.He determined to go as far as he could, hoping that his body didn’t betray them.**

**  
**

**The slapping of waves grew louder and louder and Lee felt the beat of the ocean in the very rocks they were treading on.It excited him and seemed to give him strength.Quick glances through almost closed eyelids showed dark water ahead.**

**  
**

**“We’ll have to swim a very short distance.Do you think you can do it?” she whispered close to his ear.**

**  
**

**“Fine time to ask,” he quipped, a soft chuckle dying in his throat.He wondered about his chances, but he certainly wasn’t going to back off now.“Yeah, because La’ani, I usually keep my promises.”**

**  
**

**She smiled in return.“Wait, let me check and make sure the guard isn’t coming back for a while.”** ****

**  
**

**Leaning against the cavern wall, he marveled again at how well Bomar had kept his activities secret.La’ani was soon by his side again.“It’s clear,” she murmured.“Now I will guide you into the water.You will probably have to use your burned hand, but the water will help cool any pain.”**

**  
**

**Lee nodded.“Let’s go while our luck is holding.”** ****

**  
**

**The darkness of night aided, allowing the escapee to see a little better.He felt the water buoy him even as it tried to sweep him off his feet.It was warm and nurturing and his mind fleetingly recalled the times in his boyhood, when he had been at the beach, snorkeling, swimming.Back before the sea had been temporarily closed to him.He brought his attention back to the present.**

**  
**

**They waded a little farther and then struck out beyond the cavern opening.Waves buffeted him and Lee felt his seditious stomach trying to react.He had never been seasick a day in his life, but if this was what it was like, he could now sympathize with those who were prone.He gulped the tangy sea air and then clamped his lips shut.A larger wave banged against his injured arm and he tasted blood where he bit his lip too hard, stifling a cry of pain.**

**  
**

**“I have another idea,” La’ani said in his ear.“Brace yourself against this rock.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee didn’t argue.He didn’t have the strength to.The sea that had seemed so beckoning and gentle before had turned into an enemy.The waves banged him against the rock or tried to pry him from it.The salt burned his injured hand, but just as La’ani had said, the cool water also soothed.**

**  
**

**“Lee!” La’ani called out of the darkness.**

**  
**

**“Still here,” he replied.She was close; he heard her sigh of relief.**

**  
**

**“If you can hang on, I think this will be better for you,” she said, now standing beside him.**

**  
**

**He touched something wooden.It felt like part of a large crate.It would be like a raft, something like he had occasionally played on at the Outer Banks with his friends when he was a kid.But now it wasn’t play.La’ani had to keep control of it while he was on it.**

**  
**

**“Let me help you on it,” she said, her body rubbing against his whenever a wave washed against them.**

**  
**

**Under any other circumstances, he would have found that pleasurable.Right now, though, it was merely comforting.Lee groped for the far edge, waited for a wave to lift him and then he slid on the raft.It wobbled precariously under his weight, but La’ani helped him toward the center.Soon he was balanced.“Thanks,” he murmured as she pushed the raft further away from the cave entrance.Lee thought he should be feeling guilty for letting her do all the work but right now, he felt so damned tired he couldn’t even muster enough strength to feel anything….**

**  
**

**La’ani had always loved the sea; what true Hikerian didn’t?She had spent most of her time in the sea when she wasn’t tending to those things considered in the past to be women’s work, and lately when she had been assigned to work at the prison.She now not only had the outrigger from which she fished and explored, but she had another, larger canoe that she had fitted for a longer trip—one that would take her from this place of sadness and death and nightmares.But the larger canoe, to her shame, had remained only available.She had not yet had the courage to actually leave.It had been her father’s, lovingly created in the old ways and polished to a fine luster by its use.After her father’s death, she had hidden it, worked on it where the worms had begun to take up residence, and stocked it.**

**  
**

**These last months had been so frustrating. Every time she determined to actually flee the island, something had fed her fear with excuses and kept the canoe in its secret berth.Now, though, there was no more room for excuses.There was the American.She had to help him get away; and not just from Bomar and Mendon.She had to get him and the precious vials totally away from Hikeru somehow.**

**  
**

**“We were wondering if the guards had caught you both,” came a deep voice nearby.**

**  
**

**La’ani started, then relaxed.It was Kana, young son of Auva, the head fisherman.He was barely fifteen, but already strong enough to haul in ten-foot sharks with only minimal help.Ra’ona, Kana’s cousin, was with him.He was the same age, but somewhat smaller in build.** ****

**  
**

**“The American is very sick and couldn’t swim.”** ****

**  
**

**Even in the dark, Kana cast a critical eye at the escaped prisoner.“Why this risk, La’ani?” he asked.“This one is fit to die and the Leader will tear the island apart looking for him.”** ****

**  
**

**Ra’ona snorted.“If for no other reason than to stir that evil nest that is defiling our island.”** ****

**  
**

**La’ani couldn’t agree more, but in her case, there was more.She had to save Lee.She had to do more than she had done or been able to do for her own father and brother.“He has shown great courage against the evil one,” was all she said.** ****

**  
**

**“And you like him,” Kana teased, pushing the raft along with ease.**

**  
**

**La’ani said nothing.Yes, she liked him, but not the way that Kana seemed to be thinking.She saw a tinge of pink in the eastern sky.“We must get him to safety before the sun rises,” she reminded them.**

**  
**

**“You do realized that the Leader will spare nothing in looking for this American,” Ra’ona repeated seriously.**

**  
**

**“Yes, I know,” La’ani said.“But we agreed to this.All of us who also vowed to protect the grandmother agreed to help me get him away from the prison.”** ****

**  
**

**“I know.This madness must stop,” Kana declared.“How in the world can we get him away from Hikeru, though?How can we contact his people?”** ****

**  
**

**“He seems to think that despite the odds against it, his friend, Admiral Nelson will eventually find him.”** ****

**  
**

**“This admiral had better hurry, La’ani,” Kana said, half serious, half in a jesting manner.“Or there won’t be anyone to save.”** ****

**  
**

**“He’s tougher than you think,” she said hotly.** ****

**  
**

**Kana chuckled, his voice barely heard above the more sedate slapping of the waves against their bodies.“We shall see.But we have to hurry if we are going to reach the cave before daylight.”** ****

**  
**

**La’ani nodded.All three of them took turns by alternately pushing and pulling the tiny raft with its unconscious cargo.Just before the sun rose above the horizon, the three conspirators saw the canoes of the fisherman heading past the reef to open waters.They pulled the raft into a tiny, well-hidden cove.Kana pulled the American off.“He is bigger than I am, but I should still be able to carry him.Ra’ona, break up the wood and bring it.We’ll need firewood deep in the cave.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee groaned softly when Kana shifted him, but stayed unconscious.La’ani couldn’t help but think that was a very good thing.**


	15. Foam on the Large Wave

**  
** **Chapter 14**

**  
**

**  
**

**“Admiral, we’re fifty miles out from Hikeru,” O’Brien told the older man.**

**Nelson rubbed his tired eyes.Sleep had been sporadic or, at times, non-existent, but even so, what O’Brien told him was redundant.He already knew.He knew every foot of the journey where they were.But it would serve no purpose to say so.O’Brien was just following protocol.He nodded his acknowledgement; his eyes still riveted on the herculite hull plates in front of him.Water sluiced against the clear substance.**

**  
**

**“Orders, sir?”** ****

**  
**

**“First take us down another fifty feet,” the admiral said.**

**  
**

**“Aye, sir.”O’Brien turned to give orders.**

**  
**

**“And then wake Mr. Morton,” Nelson added.“And Chief Sharkey, and ask them to meet me in my cabin.”**

**  
**

**How would they proceed, he asked himself? At least for now, they had to keep their presence secret.“And make sure we stay beyond the three mile limit.Maintain constant surveillance.”**

**  
**

**“Aye, aye, sir,” O’Brien acknowledged.“Continue radio silence?”**

**  
**

**“Yes.”** ****

**  
**

**When Nelson gave no further orders, the young lieutenant turned back to the conn and passed along the orders.Nelson continued to gaze out of the bow windows pondering, then he turned back to the control room.“Please inform the CMO of the meeting as well, Lieutenant.”He left for his cabin.Not surprisingly, all three men showed up less than five minutes after he had.They gathered around his work desk.**

**  
**

**“Now that we’re here, I’d like your input as to how we proceed,” Nelson said without preliminaries.** ****

**  
**

**“Well, sir, I’d love to simply take a boatload of security men and march into this, uh, Bomar’s quarters and demand the skipper.But Captain Crane would be dead before we got on shore,” Sharkey stated succinctly.**

**  
**

**“Yes.I think stealth is the way we have to go,” Nelson said.“As you said, for Captain Crane’s sake.”**

**  
**

**“As much as I hate to suggest it, I think we need a day to gather intelligence, get a feel for this place,” the chief medical officer, Will Jamieson interjected.He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.**

**  
**

**“A few of us can slip in tonight,” Sharkey suggested.“The main town.Mingle.See if there’s any scuttlebutt.”**

**  
**

**Harriman noticed that Morton was strangely silent.He had his own ideas, but he preferred to let his men brainstorm. After the suggestions had been made, and no one had said anything for several moments, Nelson turned to the acting captain.“Commander?”**

**  
**

**“I agree with stealth, and as much as I hate to say it, I think Doc’s idea has the greatest merit.Chief, that intelligence is going to be hard to gather your way.”He paused and gazed each man in the room.“First of all, how do you mingle on an island where everyone except the men in charge are Polynesian?And in a place with such a small population that everyone knows everyone else.I’m afraid our surveillance will be through the periscope and with radar.”**

**  
**

**Sharkey looked chagrined.“But while we wait, they could be doing heaven only knows what to the skipper.”**

**  
**

**“I know, Chief,” Nelson said softly.“But I agree we can’t proceed until we know more of the political atmosphere of this place.And we can’t be seen.And there is this….” Everyone looked expectantly at him.“Hikeru does not have a tourist based economy.It is listed as being an autonomous, closed nation by the CIA Fact File.”**

**  
**

**“In other words, if we showed up uninvited, there would be hell to pay,” Jamieson said.**

**  
**

**Nelson sighed.“Exactly.”**

**  
**

**“But….” Sharkey sputtered and then was quiet.He realized that he had been thinking with his emotions rather than with reason.**

**  
**

**“We have to have something concrete,” Nelson said, his voice tense.**

**  
**

**“Can’t we even send a small team tonight, sir?” Sharkey asked.**

**  
**

**Nelson gazed at his wall thoughtfully.“Let’s see what we can find out with long range surveillance for the next twelve hours.That gives us the opportunity to see if Bomar is even aware of our presence.We’ll keep the watches the same except there will always be one man at the periscope.**

**  
**

**Each man nodded and without further words, the meeting adjourned, but before they left, Harriman declared.“However, if there is the slightest evidence that Captain Crane is in imminent danger, we go in, politics be damned.”**

**  
**

**Everyone’s face was grim as they walked out of the cabin.**

**  
**

**===================================**

**  
**

**Lee awoke to the sound of singing, the feel of a cool breeze against bare skin and the ever-present feeling of discomfort in his middle.There was a bandage over his eyes and his right arm had been immobilized.His body was bare except for an undergarment, over which a cloth had been wrapped around his waist and reached almost to his knees.Then he realized something else.He was clean.Someone had bathed him, as well as changed his clothes.While it was exhilarating to actually feel clean, Lee wondered with a flush of embarrassment, who it was who had stripped and bathed him._La’ani?_He felt his cheeks grow warm.**

**  
**

**The singing stopped and a woman began speaking.**

**  
**

**“Lee?” La’ani asked after a short silence.**

**  
**

**“How did you know I was awake?” he queried.**

**  
**

**“I thought you might be awakening since you had stopped telling your dreams,” she said.**

**  
**

**“Telling my dreams?”Then it dawned on him.He remembered dreaming about doing underwater repairs and running out of oxygen.Apparently he was still talking out his nightmares.He sighed.**

**  
**

**“Yes, most of the time when you have been asleep, you have dreamed aloud.But even if that were not the case, the Teacher Mother, the grandmother . . . she just knows.”**

**  
**

**Lee noticed the use of the article in front of “grandmother” and could only assume she was like some kind of elder or leader. He used his elbow to lever himself up and La’ani helped him, pulling something behind him for a backrest.He didn’t say anything for a moment, working past a wave of nausea, this time accompanied by the beginnings of a headache.**

**  
**

**Again the grandmother said something.When she was finished La’ani spoke.“A’ona Matua says that her skills can only help a little against the evil of Dr. Mendon.I told her about the little bottles we took.”**

**  
**

**“You have them?” Lee asked anxiously.** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, they are safe.”** ****

**  
**

**Relief washed over him.“Good,” he murmured.“You must keep them safe at all costs.”**

**  
**

**“A’ona Matua said more,” La’ani said quietly.**

**  
**

**“Oh, sorry,” Lee said, feeling something like a scolded schoolboy.**

**  
**

**La’ani’s voice, when she spoke next, was filled with happiness.To Lee’s ears, it sounded musical.“A’ona Matua says that she will help you find your people so they can help you get rid of the evil one’s sickness inside you.”**

**  
**

**An old woman help him find the _Seaview_?Out here in the middle of the Pacific?He smiled indulgently, then groaned as the pain clawed at his insides.The nausea rose beyond his ability to control it, but there was nothing in his stomach to answer the call.He heard voices but they wavered in and out of his consciousness.Then something trickled down his throat, fiery hot, all the way to his stomach.His throat went numb.Lee felt he was floating.The nausea receded to controllable levels and only the slight headache remained.**

**  
**

**Someone was talking in a different language—A’ona Matua, Lee remembered.Someone was bathing his face and chest.It felt so cool, like the touch of his mother’s care when he had suffered from his few bouts of childhood illness.Reality seemed to drift in and out like waves on the beach for a short while and then everything began to clarify.La’ani, Mendon’s curse, everything.But now he was able to think.The world stopped spinning and stood still.**

**  
**

**“Lee?” La’ani said, over and over.“Lee?”She touched his chest, felt the heat.Her eyes prickled with tears, but she blinked them back.He was so sick.La’ani was so afraid for him.She looked at A’ona Matua, hoping for something—anything that would help Lee.A’ona Matua handed her the bottle of kanaka juice.**

**  
**

**“Yeah,” he finally answered, his voice shaky and hoarse.**

**  
**

**“Take another sip of the drink,” she coaxed softly.“Only a small sip.”**

**  
**

**Lee obeyed and wondered if this was Mendon’s bug or the cure that had looped him round and round.“What is this stuff?” he asked.“Whatever it is, you ought to market it.”**

**  
**

**La’ani translated his words for A’ona Matua and they both laughed.It was not derisive, but like birds dipping in the early morning, or like angels. “It is a drink made from the juice of several different plants,” La’ani explained.A’ona Matua leaned forward to check the American.**

**  
**

**Lee felt reassured.Suddenly, he felt a soothingly cool hand on his cheek.He was sure it was A’ona Matua and he now knew who had bathed him and changed his clothes, making him feel like a human being again.“Thank you, A’ona Matua,” he whispered.“Thank you for taking care of me.”**

**  
**

**She seemed to understand because La’ani said nothing before the old woman spoke again.The knarled fingers caressed his cheek again and she said more.Like La’ani, there was laughter in her voice.**

**  
**

**La’ani giggled and now Lee was curious.“What?” he asked.**

**  
**

**“A’ona Matua says that she did not mind taking care of you.And she told me to say to you that she sent me away to get the medicine while she did so.She has heard of the strange modesty of you American men.” La’ani giggled some more and Lee knew there was more.He felt his cheeks flush again.“A’ona Matua says that you have a fine body that looks very good in the lava-lava.Your only fault is that you are too skinny.”**

**  
**

**Lee felt embarrassed, but amused at the same time.“We can thank Mendon for that little flaw,” he growled good-naturedly.“By the way, that isn’t just fruit juice, you’ve done something to it.I don’t even feel my stomach anymore.”**

**  
**

**“The juice is been allowed to . . . uh….”**

**  
**

**Lee chuckled.“To ferment.Hair of the dog!No wonder I feel so good,” he exclaimed.**

**  
**

**“Hair of the dog?” La’ani asked, puzzled.Despite the seriousness of the situation, she was glad to see the American feeling better, even laughing.**

**  
**

**“Uh, booze, liquor,” Lee told her, still chuckling.It felt good finding humor in something right now.**

**  
**

**A’ona Matua put her fingers to his lips to quiet him and then began speaking.Lee took the hint and listened, waiting for La’ani’s translation.**

**  
**

**“The Mother Teacher says that it cannot be used too often but when you do drink it, that will be the time to do those things that are most important.”**

**  
**

**Crane nodded, suddenly taken with a feeling of seriousness.“I don’t know how it’s going to happen, but somehow, I have to get word to my people.”**

**  
**

**La’ani turned to A’ona Matua and told her of the American’s concerns.**

**  
**

**Lee waited patiently, knowing eventually La’ani would enlighten him.He concentrated on the respite, however fleeting it was, that he was currently enjoying.**

**  
**

**“A’ona Matua says that while you were dreaming, she was also dreaming. She believes some of those dreams are the same and have great significance on the future of you and our island.She wants me to tell you.”**

**  
**

**Lee nodded, wondering what the older woman had in mind.**

**  
**

**“A’ona Matua saw a ship and drew it.I will try to describe it,” La’ani told him.**

**  
**

**“Let me get this bandage off and I can look at it,” Lee said, reaching up.A hand stopped him, a word repeated.Lee figured it meant no.**

**  
**

**“A’ona Matua says that you must let your eyes rest.Like your sickness, your doctors have to help you with your eyes.She says that until they can, you must follow her instructions."** ****

**  
**

**“All right,” murmured Lee.“I’m grateful for what she’s done already.I’ll trust her in this as well,” he replied solemnly.He had to admit that his eyes felt much better for wearing the bandage, even if the blindness was disconcerting, even frightening.**

**  
**

**“A’ona Matua says that the ship she saw was very large, long and slender, like the sea eel and blue-gray, like the sky before the storm.The front was shaped like a manta with large glowing eyes.Four of them.It moved with grace and power and speed, even though it was metal and could not bend.”La’ani heard Lee gasp and knew that he recognized the ship A’ona Matua had seen.**

**  
**

**Lee gasped and felt an electric shock run through his body._Seaview!_He felt someone take his left hand and place it on a piece of plank.The unburned tips of his fingers traced the outline of the submarine._How could she know?_He had not described the sub to La’ani.Did he describe it when he was talking in his sleep?He asked that question out loud.**

**  
**

**“It would not matter, Lee,” La’ani said. “A’ona Matua does not understand English.She would not learn it when we still had radios and when my brother tried to teach her.”La’ani paused.“Does A’ona Matua speak of something you know?What is this ship?”**

**  
**

**“My boat._Seaview_,” he said softly.He could say nothing more for a moment.It had seemed an eternity since he had been on board her.Sometimes, his previous life seemed almost dreamlike and memories became vague.That was as frightening as what Mendon had done to him.Or was that something Mendon had done to him, too?Lee took a deep breath, trying to remain calm, but he felt his hand shaking nonetheless.**

**  
**

**A’ona Matua touched his cheek again and said something.Lee gasped and cried out.Not in pain, but because he knew what she had said.It was like an electric shock._How did she know? _he repeated._Who is this woman_?**

**  
**

**Lee?”Frightened, La’ani grabbed his arm.“Lee?”**

**  
**

**“How did she know?How does she know?” He demanded, his breath coming in gasps.“Who is A’ona Matua?”**

**  
**

**La’ani’s voice was anxious.“She is the mother leader.On our island, a man is a leader in almost all things, but the A’ona Matua is the woman who touches all things—the sky, the sea, the people.Sometimes the very breath of the elements.When Bomar came, she warned us.Even before, she warned us.But everyone thought the old ways were outdated, that the old ones were seeing things that weren’t there.Even now there are a few who still don’t believe….”La’ani paused a moment before continuing.A finger lightly touched his forehead.“Did you understand what she said?”**

**  
**

**Lee nodded.His stomach churned, but as much from the shock of what was happening as from any kind of man-made flu.“It’s here,” he whispered.“_Seaview_ is here.”He looked up.“How do we contact her?How far out is she?I have to get on board.”He staggered to his feet, swaying at the dizziness that enveloped him.Hands steadied him and then tried to force him to sit down again.Lee shook them off.“A’ona Matua!” he demanded.“Someone has to take me to my boat!”**


	16. Foam on the Large Wave

**  
** **Chapter 15**

**  
**

**  
**

**Lee continued to stand, despite the increasing dizziness, and despite the hands that insisted that he sit down.The old woman spoke.The sound of her voice both calmed and excited him, but this time, Lee waited patiently.As she continued to speak, he finally allowed himself to be helped to a seat on the cave floor.**

**  
**

**“The Grandmother says that your _Seaview_ is somewhere nearby, but she is not sure exactly where.They have come for you, but are not sure how to get you.”** ****

**  
**

**“Hikeru is an autonomous entity, I bet.Politics,” Lee said tersely.“You just can’t plow into a closed country uninvited.”**

**  
**

**“Perhaps they are afraid the Leader would kill you if he knew your friends have discovered where you are,” La’ani suggested.She was delighted with the news as well.It had worried her to think that they would be taking the canoe into the open ocean and have no real destination.Now rescue was coming to them.**

**  
**

**Lee began to laugh.“And to think I doubted the admiral’s abilities.”Sobering, he asked, “So how do I get to her?Do you have a radio?”**

**  
**

**“We do not have radios in the village anymore,” La’ani said.“Sometimes the people used to send messages in the dark with torches.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee thought a moment. “Yes, I can flash a coded message at night.If they are anywhere near, they’ll see.”Then he thought of something.“But if they respond, Bomar and Mendon will also see and know they’re here.If they came on shore….”Lee paused in thought.“From what little I saw, the Leader has a great many defensive weapons and he could easily kill anyone who came ashore here.What about other parts of the island?”** ****

**  
**

**“Cliffs to the sea,” La’ani said.“This side of the island has the only harbor and shore.”**

**  
**

**“I can instruct them not to respond.But I’ll need a flashlight.”** ****

**  
**

**When La’ani translated Lee’s words, A’ona Matua was also pleased.La’ani translated the old woman’s response.“Your plan is a good one, but it is hours before dark.You must sleep.Drink a little of this, Lee, and try to rest.”She handed him a small jug.** ****

**  
**

**Crane did as he was told.Soon the lightheaded feeling was replaced by overwhelming lethargy.“You laced it,” he mumbled accusingly.He lay down on the mat and was instantly asleep.**

**  
**

**La’ani gazed at A’ona Matua.“How do we know his ship will see Lee’s signal?”** ****

**  
**

**“We trust in the Gods,” came the old woman’s reply.** ****

**  
**

**“And why couldn’t they come and get him at night when Lee signals them?”** ****

**  
**

**A’ona Matua shook her head.“It is as he said; there is danger in the night.There is danger all the time, but there is more in the night.If his friends come to get him, it will be bad for them.Someone will die.”** ****

**  
**

**“Lee will die if he is not rescued soon,” La’ani said tersely.Every time he had a bout of sickness, it seemed harder and harder for him to recover.She worried that they would not get him to his ship in time.** ****

**  
**

**“Tomorrow morning, little one.”**

**  
**

**===============================**

**  
**

**Commander Chip Morton began his watch in an atmosphere almost electric with anxiety.The only thing that had happened during the day was the realization that the leader of this island was prepared for almost any contingency and was also very, very paranoid.A small gunboat patrolled access to the main harbor from the sea.There was a small, probably radio-controlled minefield in the waters just inside the reef to the only viable approach to the compound.Probably there were more surprises on land, too.The admiral continued to be cautious, the only breaching of that caution being their distance to the shore.They had been a scant mile most of the afternoon and evening.Chip almost ground his teeth in frustration. When in the world were they going to just say ‘to hell with caution’ and send a team in?They could avoid the minefields in the water and land close to Bomar’s house.He sighed and felt his stomach knot in fear for his captain and friend.**

**  
**

**He bent over the periscope eyepiece.The sun had set only a scant half hour ago and already it was dark.The tropics, he reminded himself.The village on the shore seemed to have very little electricity or they were under a curfew.No lights shone at all.There were steep mountains to the north of the village and a forest to the south.He was about to order the ship to lay about so he could watch the compound, when a distant flash of light came from a point at the base of the mountains.Hard to tell—the angle.It appeared to be deliberate, nothing random like someone walking along the beach with a flashlight toward the ground. He turned to Lt. Rojas.“North, Lieutenant, half speed,” he ordered.**

**  
**

**Morton watched through the periscope until he felt the sub was almost at a straight on view of the spot from which the flash had come.Then it happened again.It was a code!But who?“All stop!Lieutenant, inform the admiral that someone is trying to contact us.Ski take down what I’m saying!”** ****

**  
**

**There was a great deal of shuffling and excited murmuring, but Chip ignored it.The message was short.It began again.“Attention _Seaview_.Do not approach.Do not answer.Watch tomorrow morning.Come to you.LBC.”Chip waited for more.It repeated once but seemed weaker, as though the power source was dying.** ****

**  
**

**“Those initials, Commander,” Sharkey said, suddenly by his elbow.“Skipper’s?”** ****

**  
**

**Morton pulled away from the periscope.He hadn’t even heard the COB approach.“He motioned a seaman to take over periscope watch for him.“I would say so, Chief, or someone wanting us to think it is,” he replied.**

**  
**

**The admiral rushed in.“Did you say something about contact?” he asked, almost breathlessly.** ****

**  
**

**Morton couldn’t help it, he grinned.“Appears that way, Admiral.”He repeated the message.**

**  
**

**“Come to my cabin, gentlemen,” he said tersely, pointing to Morton and Sharkey.“Lt. Rojas, the conn is yours.Keep the course just beyond a mile and let me know of any new developments.”Excitement coursed through his body, but he let nothing show on his face** ****

**  
**

**“Aye, Admiral,” the new junior officer said exuberantly.The three men left for the ‘inner sanctum’ amid murmurings of happiness and speculation.** ****

**  
**

**  
**

**================================**

**  
**

**Crane felt Kana’s strong arms supporting him.It was a good thing.It had been all he could do to hold the flashlight for that length of time.He cursed his weakness under his breath.He had been able to send the message four times before the batteries died.If _Seaview_ was out there and if she had been in position, they should have received it.His fingers felt numb and he reached toward Ra’oana, who gently took the flashlight from his hand.“Do you think they saw the message?” Lee asked.**

**  
**

**“Yes,” A’ona Matua declared after his words had been translated for her.“We must go back before we are seen.I have heard the Leader’s boat moving in the waters.I know that he had men loyal to him checking along the beaches occasionally, but they have been doing so more often since your escape.”** ****

**  
**

**Kana half carried, half supported Lee and soon they were safely back in the bowels of the mountain they had emerged from an hour earlier.A’ona Matua had wanted to wait a little later, but in this Lee had prevailed.He knew the men on the watch and knew that vigilance and expectation was higher near the beginning of the watch.So less than an hour after sunset, they had carefully made their say to the tiny beach at the base of the mountain and signaled, trusting that the boat was nearby.** ****

**  
**

**Lee shivered as he sank to the mat on which he had slept most of the day.He wore only the lava-lava wrapped around his narrow hips.No other clothing had been allowed during the contact.A white shirt, which was all any of them had to cover their chests, would have been like a beacon.“Any possibility of a shirt now?” he asked.**

**  
**

**La’ani’s gentle hands reapplied the bandage around his eyes that he had taken off during his contact with the sub.Dourly, Lee had thought his eyes had been worse, but it was night, so he couldn’t be sure.Certainly, they seemed to be more painful.Someone else slipped an over-large shirt on, taking care not to disturb the splinted arm more than necessary.It ached only a little, but everything was relative right now. **

**  
**

**“Here,” La’ani said, placing mug of warm liquid to his lips.Lee felt his stomach growl and rebel at the same time and he hesitated.“You must try to take something, Lee,” she coaxed.Her heart clenched with fear for him.** ****

**  
**

**She was right, of course, he thought.La’ani seemed to always be right.He sipped the proffered concoction and found it to be a slightly sweet fish soup that warmed as it slid down his throat.After a few swallows, he pushed it away.He leaned tiredly against his backrest.Even more than the pain, even more than the sickness, he was tired—totally exhausted.How long had it been?It seemed forever.Lee knew he shouldn’t feel that way, this little pity party he was indulging in, but he couldn’t help it.Then a disturbing thought occurred to him; was this part of the sickness, too?He knew he had to overcome this depression that had seemed to cover him like a thick blanket.A’ona Matua was right._Seaview _was out there.Help was sitting in the waters.** ****

**  
**

**There was a light touch on his arm.“Did I not tell you we know how to stay dressed?” the old woman asked, La’ani translating.“We do not walk around this island with our lava-lavas falling down.**

**  
**

**Lee had to laugh.He knew La’ani translated as close to the original phrases as possible and he enjoyed the old woman’s homey sense of humor.It reminded him of his grandmother.Her next words offered him solace.**

**  
**

**“Now you feel better. You have signaled your people, you have a bit of soup in you and you have laughed.”** ****

**  
**

**“And I’m not alone,” he murmured.**

**  
**

**“You never were, Lee,” A’ona Matua reminded him.She liked this young American La’ani had decided to rescue.**

**  
**

**“You’re right,” Lee agreed.La’ani gave him a little more of the soup, another sip, before his rebellious stomach forced him to stop.**

**  
**

**“I wonder what the crew is going to think of their captain showing up in a wrap-around skirt,” he muttered, as much to get a rise from A’ona Matua as to take his mind off how he felt.**

**  
**

**After La’ani had translated, the old woman huffed.“It they are real men, they will see that it becomes you well.Perhaps they will see the wisdom of such dress.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee chuckled and then sobered quickly.He felt dizzy and just wanted to lie down, but there was a question that needed answering.“You told me to tell them that I would come to them.How?” he asked bluntly.There was no discussion and translation.Apparently this had already been discussed between the small group with him in the cave.**

**  
**

**“Tomorrow morning, the fishermen will go out in their boats with their nets and spears as usual.The Leader’s men will find nothing when they check them.”** ****

**  
**

**“Bomar checks the fishermen?” Lee asked, not surprised at the news.** ****

**  
**

**“Yes,” La’ani replied.“A very thorough search this morning right after you escaped.But he used to send his boat out periodically when he thought someone might be trying to escape to another island.And it’s been patrolling much more since you escaped.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee frowned.That complicated things.“What kind of boat?” he asked, thinking this couldn’t be a simple canoe.** ****

**  
**

**“It is a gunboat, about the length of two canoes end to end.** ****

**  
**

**“A small PT boat,” Lee said sourly.His insides gave a lurch.**

**  
**

**“It is not uncommon for women to go out and look for octopus or clams, so A’ona Matua and I will go out with you at the tiller as though hunting, too.We will go out after the men have been fishing for a while and the attention of the gunboat is on them.Instead of stopping at the reef, we will continue beyond, out to a distance where your submarine most likely will be.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee couldn’t believe his ears.He jerked forward.“Are you two totally nuts?” he thundered.“A’ona Matua can’t go out there if Bomar’s goons have a gunboat!”Lee groaned and promptly lost his dinner.He felt cool hands pushing him back on his mat, someone wiping his hot face, and A’ona Matua’s soothing singsong voice.Despite the horror of their plan and despite his own inability to do anything but be miserable, Lee tried to relax and listen.**

**  
**

**“This is not just to get you to your ship, Lee,” La’ani began, laying her hand on his chest and willing him to understand.“We have all talked.We cannot stay here.A’ona Matua says she will not stay here.The island is dead while Bomar and Mendon are here.Most of the men in the village will no longer serve the Leader or his evil partner.”She paused and Lee said nothing.“So the real question is will your people take us as well as you?”** ****

**  
**

**Lee only thought a brief moment.“How many?”But before anyone could say anything, he answered.“It doesn’t matter.As captain of the _Seaview_, I assure you that we’ll take any who seek asylum.”**

**  
**

**La’ani thought that would be the answer, but she felt her heart rejoice at Lee’s words.Those listening nearby were whispering excitedly to one another.“Thank you, Lee.Now you rest.Tomorrow morning will be hard.**

**  
**

**Lee nodded.He suspected that La’ani had just understated things tremendously.**

**  
**

**“But A’ona Matua feels confident that if you follow her instructions, you will safely be back on your ship tomorrow.”** ****

**  
**

**“Thank you,” murmured Lee wearily.**

**  
**

**“I do think, before you sleep, though, that you should look presentable to go back to your submarine,” La’ani said, remembering Lee as she first saw him.**

**  
**

**“Huh?You mean you have a uniform?” Lee asked, confused.**

**  
**

**La’ani giggled softly.“No.You do not wear beards on your _Seaview,_ do you?”** ****

**  
**

**“Oh, no, we don’t,” he replied.“But you don’t have to do that.The admiral will understand.”** ****

**  
**

**“I took care of my father for three months after they had burned both of his hands beyond use,” she said softly.“I want to do this for you.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee couldn’t say anything for a while.“I’m sorry, La’ani.You have already done so much for me.”** ****

**  
**

**“I remember shaving him every morning until he died,” she said, as though she hadn’t heard him.“He insisted that he would not look the part of a broken man.‘If my body is destroyed, so be it.No one can take my spirit from me,’” she quoted.Tears sprang to her eyes as she remembered.** ****

**  
**

**Lee felt a drop of water on his chest and then another.Suddenly, he realized what it was and reached up and touched her cheek.It was slick with tears.He wiped them away as gently as his injured hand would allow.“I’m so sorry that happened to you.You are a very brave woman to continue to work in that nest of vermin after that,” Lee murmured.**

**  
**

**“No, Lee.I was forced to,” she replied with a choking sob.“And I am not brave!”** ****

**  
**

**“The hell you aren’t!” Lee contended hotly.“And this time, don’t contradict me.”** ****

**  
**

**La’ani sniffed and turned away.Soon she was next to his mat again and he felt her soft hands spreading lather on his beard and then gently shaving him with a straight razor.It didn’t take her long, but as she was washing off the last of the lather, she bent down and kissed him on the cheek.“Thank you, Lee.I appreciate you saying that.”** ****

**  
**

**“Only the truth,” he said softly and then yawned.**

**  
**

**“And I think you are a lot like my father.”** ****

**  
**

**That was the last he remembered before falling into an exhausted but troubled sleep.**


	17. Foam on the Large Wave

**  
** **Chapter 16**

**  
**

**  
**

**The next morning had the feel of rain, so Crane knew it was overcast.That would help them in the escape efforts.La’ani confirmed it as the men set out for their fishing just before the sun rose.As soon as the fishermen had left, A’ona Matua and La’ani prepared an outrigger for their journey.**

**  
**

**“You want me to do what?” Lee asked, incredulous.**

**  
**

**“You will handle the steering paddle,” La’ani said matter-of-factly.**

**  
**

**“But I am effectively blind,” he protested.The word almost froze in his throat, but he forced it out anyway.**

**  
**

**“You are the captain of a sea-going vessel and you cannot follow steering directions?” she asked softly, with no hint of derision in her voice.A’ona Matua was chanting softly in the background.** ****

**  
**

**Lee was speechless for a moment.Was what she was suggesting any different than what he required the navs to do when he called out the numbers?“Of course, I can,” he said tersely, trying to hide his embarrassment.**

**  
**

**“Good, then we will go shortly,” La’ani declared.**

**  
**

**A’ona Matua had given him some of the same medicine she had given him the day before, except a somewhat healthier belt of it.Although he still felt the heat of his fever, Lee was literally feeling no pain.He heard the distant beat of an engine over the pounding surf.“They out there?” he asked.** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, it is time to go,” La’ani said, her voice tense.She still felt confident, though, something that she attributed to A’ona Matua.“Here, stand next to Atu as he pushes.When I tell you to get in, do so.”**

**  
**

**Lee nodded.He hung on to the aft prow as much for balance as anything else.And forget helping the boy push the canoe into the surf, he thought.A slight shifting told him that A’ona Matua was onboard.**

**  
**

**“Get in, Lee,” La’ani said, her voice close to his ear.He staggered as the waves pushed against him, but managed with Atu’s help to get in.He felt La’ani climb in and heard her paddling.He felt the steering paddle at his feet and picked it up quickly, transferring it under his left arm, freeing his injured hand from the job.**

**  
**

**The small craft rose on the waves, lightly balanced, sleek.Lee felt it slicing through the tops of the waves and was reminded of the _Seaview_.He tried to push the little craft forward with his thoughts, but it needed scant help from him.**

**  
**

**“To the right, Lee,” La’ani directed.**

**  
**

**“How many degrees?” he automatically asked, but moved the steering paddle so that the canoe shifted slightly starboard.**

**  
**

**“Good, good,” she shouted.The roaring of the surf grew louder and he knew they were navigating through the reef.The noise grew louder and louder.La’ani continued to direct him and then they were in open sea and the roaring was behind them.A cool breeze came from portside, bringing gooseflesh to his skin.Lee heard La’ani unfurling a sail even as he continued to hear paddling.A’ona Matua’s strokes were every bit as strong as the younger woman’s.He heard the rustling of the mandamus fiber sail and then felt the lurch of the canoe to even faster speeds.“To your left, Lee,” La’ani instructed.She was nearby and laid her hand on his steering arm.“Just a little.”** ****

**  
**

**“The gunboat?” he asked.** ****

**  
**

**“Still checking the others.The cloudy skies are helping us to stay hidden a little longer.”** ****

**  
**

**The canoe continued its speedy progress.As it rose and fell, Lee’s stomach gave a lurch, but he just clamped his lips together and concentrated on La’ani’s voice.The sail billowed, telling Lee his steering was still true and he felt some small satisfaction.Spray dampened his hot skin and he shivered, although he felt it was as much from excitement, though, as from any fever.La’ani still kneeled in front of him.She had begun paddling again, occasionally pausing to look around, Lee presumed.A gasp made his own heart skip a beat.“They spotted us?” he asked.**

**  
**

**“Yes.Continue to hold the paddle.”** ****

**  
**

**“How far out are we?” Lee asked, figuring the _Seaview_ was keeping close to the three-mile limit.“A mile?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes,” she replied.** ****

**  
**

_ **Come on, Admiral! ** _ **he urged in his mind._See us!_He coaxed the outrigger to faster speed, but it was already hurtling along as fast as it could.Finally when he began to hear the roar of engines, Lee could stand it no longer.He ripped off the bandage.The world was extremely hazy and the air stung his watering eyes, but even blurred, he could see the gunboat bearing down on them.Hear its predatory roar.Immediately Lee knew that there was no intention of letting them surrender.Someone appeared to be at a large machine gun, but wasn’t using it.They were going to run them down.**

**  
**

**“La’ani!” he shouted.“You and A’ona Matua jump overboard!”** ****

**  
**

**“But Lee….”** ****

**  
**

**“Do it!” he bellowed.“This time do as I say!Now!!”** ****

**  
**

**The old woman said something and both women leaped out of the canoe.Lee shifted the tiller and the canoe slid sharply away from the two women.Somewhere in front of him the water was behaving curiously._Seaview!_But the ship behind him was bearing down even faster.It had swerved when he had, as he thought it might.They wanted him dead before he was rescued.Adrenalin pumped through his body giving him a measure of increased strength.Lee saw the submarine rise in an emergency blow with amazing clarity, but realized at the same time that memory and knowledge was sharpening what he was seeing as well.Glancing over his shoulder, the blurred but horribly enlarged cutter was drawing closer and closer.A hundred feet, seventy.Lee took several deep breaths and dove, to his surprise finding use of both hands as well as his legs to take him as deep beneath the waves as he could.He had almost cut it too close.** ****

**  
**

**As the gunboat passed overhead, Lee felt buffeted, beaten as though in a gauntlet.Roaring filled his ears and he was pummeled on all sides.The booming of propellers above and his heart in his chest seemed to be all that existed in this moment in time.A thumping sound, then the water seemed to erupt all around him.His ears popped painfully and his body was shoved around as though by an invisible giant’s hand.It was impossible to tell up and down.His lungs burned.He needed air.Hot water currents vied with cold, metal flotsam, slowly drifting past him.Up, his mind screamed, and he clawed for where he thought the surface was.The water was chaos, his mind a maelstrom, his body past feeling anything.Air!It was the one factor that all of him agreed on.**

**  
**

**Suddenly a hand grabbed his shirt.He was pulled past the flotsam, which still continued to drift past him.His lungs were bursting and suddenly his head was above the surface.He was gasping for the only thing that he cared about; the only thing that mattered.Air!!Thank God for air!His gasps turned into heaving sobs.He couldn’t get enough.A voice was yelling close to him, but it was unimportant—only the primal need, air….**

**  
**

**====================================**

**  
**

**Chip Morton continued to scan the island through the periscope.He had commented earlier that he felt his face had probably affixed to the device.Nelson understood just how the XO felt.He had spent some time leaning against the periscope himself.It was just past dawn, and vigilance had been almost feverish since the message had come to them in the night.Trap or genuine?Did it matter?They had to keep watch.**

**  
**

**Without taking his eyes away from the periscope, Morton rubbed the small of his back.**

**  
**

**“Let me take over for a while, Chip,” Nelson said, stepping up on the platform.**

**  
**

**“I’m all right, Admiral,” Morton said.But his voice sounded fuzzy with exhaustion.**

**  
**

**“You’ve been at it for over two hours now.It won’t do any good for you to be permanently bent over,” Nelson said.“I don’t have to bend that much anyway,” he added wryly.** ****

**  
**

**With a sigh, the exec relinquished his post.Nelson stepped up and began scanning.What they had designated as Bomar’s compound was quiet.It was the village and the mountains beyond that most interested him.That was where the signal had come from.“Activity,” he said, knowing someone would be taking down all such comments for the mission log.“About a dozen outriggers.Appears to be fishermen, just like yesterday.”He kept watching, occasionally perusing the compound.“Here comes that cutter.Again, the same protocol as yesterday morning.”Then he saw something he had almost missed before.A lone outrigger, manned by two, no three people riding toward the rugged reef._Why in the world would they be going fishing in that direction?_Then it dawned on him.They were using the reef as part of a diversion.The fishermen were the other.“Someone coming this way.Outrigger, three people.Two of them women, one….”Could it be?But the distance was too great.He couldn’t tell if it was Lee or not.“One man.”** ****

**  
**

**“Skipper?” one of the crew, Riley, asked.**

**  
**

**“I don’t know,” Nelson answered tersely, still watching.In his heart, though, he was sure it was Lee.There was a bandage around his head.The canoe shot deftly through an opening in the reef and one of the women hoisted a small triangular sail.It caught the breeze and propelled the little ship even faster.They were speeding at a very good clip and were well beyond the reef, perhaps a mile from the island now.Then Harriman saw the gunboat.It, too, had seen the single canoe and was roaring to meet it.“Bring us in, heading 114.3, full.Battle stations.Gun crew ready aft--50 mm gun at my command.Rescue crews on alert, main and emergency hatches!” he ordered. “Emergency blow!Surface!” the admiral barked, still watching.The man jerked the bandage off.Yes!It was Lee!**

**  
**

**“Two hundred yards, Admiral,” Chip called out.**

**  
**

**It was getting hard with the angle of the submarine to view clearly through the periscope.“Starboard cameras, on the screen,” he ordered.A visual showed in horrifying detail all that was going on outside.**

**  
**

**The gunboat was closer.The two women jumped overboard and Lee changed the heading of the canoe away from them.The cutter bore down on him.It was Lee they wanted, only him.And they were out to kill, not capture.“Jump, Lee,” he whispered.“Jump!” he said louder.**

**  
**

**“Surfacing!” Chip shouted.**

**  
**

**As though hearing him, Lee dove into the churning waters.**

**  
**

**Rescue team one was already assembled in the control room.Harriman assumed the others were ready as well.He hung on as the sub rose at the steep angle of the emergency blow and then fell back onto the surface like a breaching whale.**

**  
**

**“Rescue team, medical team, on deck!” Morton called over the intercom.“Gun crews, blow that ship out of the water.One shot only.The captain and two civilians are out there.”** ****

**  
**

**The teams were opening the hatch and on deck before the boat had fully settled.Nelson was right behind them.Water sprayed down on them, but it was ignored in the overwhelming desire to rescue the captain and his companions.Even as he climbed to the conning tower, Harriman heard the gunners calling out trajectories.Before he was on deck, the gun fired.A single shell hit the gunboat square, tearing it apart.Fuel exploded, further annihilating the ship.**

**  
**

**Several of the rescue crewmembers had already dived into the turgid water, dodging unignited oil slicks while other let down a life raft to rescue the women.**

**  
**

**Nelson almost dove in himself, but felt the hand of his exec on his shoulder.“They know what they’re doing, sir.And Lee knew what he was doing, too,” Chip said softly.**

**  
**

**“Been under too long,” Harriman murmured, feeling the anguish almost choking him.** ****

**  
**

**  
**

**===================================** ****

**  
**

**  
**

**RJ Porter was in the mess room, drinking coffee.He kept nervously drumming his fingers on the table.They had been at the island since the previous morning.What were they waiting for?If they knew the skipper was there—but then he knew the answer to that one.RJ knew it but it didn’t make him feel any better.**

**  
**

**“What are they waiting for?” Williams asked sourly.“The surf to rise?”** ****

**  
**

**RJ snorted.Williams glared at him, saw the same frustration that was in his own eyes and sighed.RJ sipped the coffee but quickly put it back down.The two men’s previous animosities were erased by one commonality—the Skipper.“You think he’s here?” RJ asked quietly.**

**  
**

**This time it was Williams’ turn to snort.“If the admiral thinks so, then he’s here.”** ****

**  
**

**RJ nodded.“It’s the waiting,” he murmured, thinking how short a time it had been since the captain had interviewed and hired him as the _Seaview’s _first black crewmember and how quickly he had come to respect Crane.**

**  
**

**They both jumped when the intercom shattered the silence.“Rescue crews on alert, main and emergency hatches.”The gun crew was also called.**

**  
**

**The men looked into each other’s eyes and then raced for their respective duty stations.RJ grabbed his gear as he raced toward the control room.He was ready by the time he got there and saw with horrible clarity what was going on.By that time an emergency blow had been announced and he grabbed onto the conning tower ladder as the sub went into a steep assent.The gunners were climbing the ladder before _Seaview_ had righted on the surface.RJ was on their heels.Water sluiced down the sides of the conning tower.He was directed into the water portside to find the captain.Diving in, he quickly adjusted his mask and began swimming through the flotsam and debris that had resulted in the quick kill of the gunboat.He searched, diving deeper, his mind willing the captain to appear.Then he saw him desperately trying to reach the surface one-handed.With determined strokes, RJ swam toward the skipper and grabbed his shirt.His legs kicked powerfully and they quickly broke the surface.**

**  
**

**Crane gasped and choked, then sucked in gulping breaths of air.“Gotcha, Captain,” RJ shouted over the din and splashing of water.Then he shouted toward the ship.He inflated his preserver and began to put one around the captain.A sharp gasp of pain caused him to stop.“Captain, broken bones?”** ****

**  
**

**“Dunno, right arm maybe,” Crane choked out.**

**  
**

**“Okay, I’ll be careful.You able to breath all right?”** ****

**  
**

**There was a slight nod.“Would it help . . . help diagnosis, if I t . . . told you I feet l . . . like hell?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yessir, it would,” Rashard said.But then, Crane didn’t really need to say anything.The man in his arms looked like death warmed over and the seaman knew that he needed the doctor soon.He was appalled to think that this was the same person who had played baseball all afternoon that day several months ago, and then had had the energy to scandalize several of the older women when Tamika asked him to dance with her.“We’re almost there, sir.”Several men were hanging from a rescue net, reaching out.He warned them about the skipper’s arm and then followed his captain up the ropes and onto the deck of the _Seaview_.**


	18. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 17**

**  
**

**  
**

**Harriman moved to the edge of the deck.Kowalski carefully pulled Crane up on the deck, Porter helping from behind.The captain seemed barely conscious, but he suddenly stirred and stood up.It was as though he had realized where he was and protocol had taken over.He leaned heavily on Porter as he turned toward the assemblage on deck.The two women were now on board, Nelson noted remotely.**

**  
**

**Under normal circumstances, Lee would have placed himself at the butt of many jokes by coming on board in a lava-lava.However, no one was laughing.One look at the captain of the _Seaview_ was enough to show that Lee was standing by sheer will power alone.Nelson was appalled.Crane was gaunt and pale, his body shaking as though from either total exhaustion or fever.Somehow, Nelson thought both might be the case.Although there were no visible injuries, Lee was a very sick man.** ****

**  
**

**“Per . . . permish . . .” Crane stammered, his voice barely above a whisper.**

**  
**

**“Granted!” Nelson cried out and reached to help him.**

**  
**

**The rescued man acted as though he hadn’t heard.Lee swayed slightly, but continued standing.“Permission to come aboard,” he repeated.Then with a groan, he collapsed, even taking Porter by surprise.**

**  
**

**Harriman caught him in his arms and with the seaman’s help, lowered Lee to the deck.He was burning up with fever.“Doc!” he bellowed.** ****

**  
**

**“Right here, Admiral,” the CMO said, his voice tight.He knelt down by Crane’s side and began his examination.**

**  
**

**A female voice made Nelson glance up.The two women were standing just outside the small knot of men ringing their injured captain.The older one was addressing him in a melodious Polynesian tongue.All he caught was his name, drawn out in the South Sea’s way where consonants were never pronounced together.The woman had a commanding presence, as though she was a queen, despite the disheveled gray hair and water dripping from her brightly colored sarong.Nelson felt no less authority from her than from many of the dignitaries he had met through the years.Knowing Lee was in good hands, he stood, deciding to give her any honor that might rightfully belong to her.His French was not extensive, but he tried it anyway.** ****

**  
**

**“A’ona Matua somewhat understands the language of the Tahitians, but she prefers to speak though me,” the younger woman said.“Allowing you to talk in the language most comfortable to you, Admiral.”** ****

**  
**

**Nelson nodded.That they knew his name indicated that Lee had been with them for at least a short while.“Thank you for caring for Captain Crane,” he said with a slight bow.**

**  
**

**The young woman quickly translated and A’ona Matua replied.“What the A’ona Matua did was to use her small skills to keep Lee alive long enough to get him to your doctor.What the evil one has done can only be undone by one of your own doctors.”**

**  
**

**The admiral glanced back at the CMO and at Lee, who was still lying on the deck.“What did Mendon do to him?”He almost hated asking.**

**“I am La’ani Rana’oanui.I worked in the place where Lee was being held,” the young woman said softly.**

**  
**

**She was interrupted.“Admiral,” Jamieson called out.**

**  
**

**“We will arrange quarters for you in a moment, but you will have to excuse me,” Nelson said.He turned to the doctor.**

**  
**

**“Admiral,” the CMO began.“I am taking the captain below.I need to run tests but besides a burned hand, he has the most virulent case of influenza I have ever seen.I’m going to use the quarantine room.”**

**  
**

**Harriman nodded."And I think these ladies, most particularly the younger one, might be able to give you more insight into what happened to Lee on the island.”** ****

**  
**

**“I would appreciate all the help I can get,” Doc said.** ****

**  
**

**“Admiral, we have visitors,” Morton called out from near the conning tower.**

**  
**

**As the med techs gently carried the injured man below deck, the women following, Nelson turned his attention to the sea.The fishing canoes were paddling alongside the _Seaview_.Some of the Polynesians gaped at the huge submarine in abject awe, while others approached with steely determination.**

**  
**

**Several men on deck started to pull side arms from their holsters, but the admiral ordered them to stand down.“Look sharp,” he admonished them.“But don’t do anything for the moment.”** ****

**  
**

**The canoes lay bobbing, tiny ducklings around a monstrous blue-gray duck.One of the foremost men hesitated and then clambered aboard.He stood in front of Nelson, looking around briefly and then looking back at the admiral.“This is the ship of Lee, the prisoner La’ani rescued?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes,” Nelson said, also nodding.“This is the _Seaview_.”** ****

**  
**

**“Lee promised A’ona Matua that we would be safe here.We have no place now.We have helped and the leader Bomar and the evil one will be angry,” the man said, his voice shaking with more than unfamiliarity of the language.**

**  
**

**Nelson glanced at the gathered men and mentally shook his head._What in the world was Lee thinking?_But then he knew exactly what the captain had been thinking.Sick and injured at the hands of two morally corrupt men, Lee had promised safety for these people from the same fate.**

**  
**

**“Admiral, you’d better make up your mind soon,” Chip said, close to his ear.“Sonar’s picking up a single plane heading our way and the best they can tell, it’s got some ordinance.”** ****

**  
**

**“Lee made the decision,” Nelson replied.To the Hikeru men, he ordered, “Get on board now.Your leader is sending someone to bomb us.Hurry!”**

**  
**

**As one the fishermen clamored up the side and quickly followed the _Seaview’s_ men on board.**

**  
**

**“Prepare to dive,” Morton shouted.The order was repeated inside the sub.** ****

**  
**

**The officers were the last inside and before Nelson’s feet had left the ladder, the submarine was underway.The dive was steep and swift, but the first depth charge hit aft with enough force to knock the Polynesians off their feet.The crew was used to it and hung on.**

**  
**

**“General quarters!” Nelson ordered.“Take us out of here.Full speed.”** ****

**  
**

**Another depth charge blew, causing the submarine to shudder and tip, but not slacken speed.A third was felt, but had almost no effect on the flight of the powerful child of ingenuity and the sea.Nelson found that he had been holding his breath, but slowly released it.**

**  
**

**“Orders, Admiral?” the XO asked.** ****

**  
**

**“American Samoa, Commander,” Nelson said without hesitation.“We can’t keep our visitors very long.Take them down to the wardroom for now.The men will have to share their racks with our visitors for the next couple of days.”Then as though to himself, he added,“As soon as we can, we come back.”**

**  
**

**“Aye, aye, sir,” Chip said crisply, also ordering an end to the general quarters.**

**  
**

**“I’ll be in sickbay.”Harriman left without looking into the worried faces around him.In sickbay, he saw the two women sitting on a bunk, but he only nodded to them.He crossed the small room to the quarantine area.He knocked on the door, but when he heard the commotion from within, he didn’t wait for an answer; he just barged on in.Crane was on the exam table, thrashing wildly, his screams that of a terrified man.It was all the physician’s assistants could do to keep him on the gurney.“No more!Please, no more!Leave me alone!”** ****

**  
**

**“Lee!” Harriman rushed to his captain’s side and placed a hand on his shoulder.It was shoved away by the agitated man.“What’s going on, Jamie?”** ****

**  
**

**“I was only trying to give him a sedative so I could take care of his injuries,” Doc panted.“But as soon as the needle touched him, he went berserk.”** ****

**  
**

**Of course, he would, Nelson thought.“Jamie, back off for now.”** ****

**  
**

**“What?”** ****

**  
**

**“I haven’t kept you apprised of what I learned from the double agent, but Lee’s regimen the past two weeks has been one hypodermic after another.If my knowledge of his captors is correct, he has been not only injected with truth serums, but other psychosis inducing drugs.He’s acting terrified, because he is terrified.Can you give him something orally that will do the same thing?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, I can,” Doc said.“But we have to get him to calm down first.”** ****

**  
**

**The admiral nodded and leaned closer, placing his hand gently on the injured man’s chest.Crane was shaking, his breath a hoarse panting. “Lee, settle down.Everyone is going to leave you alone now,” Harriman said soothingly.**

**  
**

**Crane’s eyes were tightly closed, but he did as he was told, turning toward the admiral.“Not a trick?” he asked plaintively, his voice trembling.** ****

**  
**

**Harriman’s heart wrenched.He hated to think of the details of what they had done.“No trick, Lee.”** ****

**  
**

**The captain’s face was slick with sweat and Nelson took a cool cloth from one of the assistants and placed it on Lee’s forehead.**

**  
**

**“Admiral?” Crane asked.“Admiral, is that you?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, you’re home—and safe, Lee,” Nelson reassured his captain.** ****

**  
**

**Lee reached up with one hand, fingertips touching the admiral’s chest.Nelson was appalled to see how badly it had been burned.Then Crane shuddered and cried out, his pain welling from somewhere deep inside.“You didn’t know.Please tell me you didn’t know.”Then he bit his lower lip, as though trying to keep further words inside.** ****

**  
**

**“Know what, lad?What?” Harriman asked, although he thought he did know what Lee was talking about.** ****

**  
**

**“Captured.Supposed to be….”** ****

**  
**

**“No!I swear to you, Lee, I didn’t know that was anyone’s directive.I would never do that to you.Believe me.I would never do anything like that to you,” Nelson said softly.Crane reached up again.Harriman took his outstretched hand, careful not to touch the raw burn.** ****

**  
**

**“They told me you had.Called me sacri . . . ficial lamb, but I knew—deep inside.I knew….Shouldn’t have ever doubted.Sorry I doubted.”** ****

**  
**

**“Lee, you had every right to doubt.Damn them, you had every right.I should have seen it.”He felt his heart tearing apart inside.What had Mendon done?And the ONI?Damn them, too.** ****

**  
**

**Crane cried out in pain.“Admiral, please.Hurting.”**

**  
**

**In horror, he saw that he had squeezed the burned hand.He let go.“Oh, God.I’m sorry, Lee.”** ****

**  
**

**Crane moaned and sucked in several deep breaths before responding.“ S‘kay.”He smiled wanly.“Home.Feels good….”**

**  
**

**Harriman noticed that the CMO was holding a small cup.“Lee, are you thirsty?” Crane nodded and Doc handed Nelson the cup.“Here’s something for you to drink.”The admiral held Lee’s head and shoulders up while he drank and then he handed the empty cup to the nearest assistant.Gently he eased Lee back down.**

**  
**

**“Thanks.Hope . . . it stays down.”** ****

**  
**

**Nelson hoped it did, too.“Just relax, Lee.”Almost instantly, it seemed to Harriman, the medication worked.Crane sagged into sleep.**

**  
**

**The admiral backed away and let Doc and the assistants do their jobs.His eyes prickled and he swiped his sleeve across his face to try to regain some measure of control.Then he heard a sound and turned.**

**  
**

**La’ani was standing just inside the door, tears coursing down her cheeks.He walked the short distance and gazed into her dark eyes.“Doc will take care of him.He will probably want some information from you soon, though.”**

**  
**

**“He and you will probably want this,” she replied, holding up a waterproof canvas bag.** ****

**  
**

**Harriman hadn’t even noticed that she had been carrying something.“What is this?"**

**  
**

**“Lee and I stole these from the evil one’s room of torture.”She handed him the bag. **

**  
**

**He looked inside and gasped.Numerous tiny vials were neatly packed to avoid breakage.“Are these what I think they are?”** ****

**  
**

**La’ani nodded.“Lee said they would be useful.He would not leave before we got them.That was when he hurt his arm.He told me these would help prevent sickness that Mendon might give people—including his own sickness.”**

**  
**

**Harriman turned to Jamieson, who had been listening to the exchange.“Doc, I’m taking these to the lab.I want a blood sample immediately so I can match one of these to Lee’s malady.That ‘influenza’ is a biological agent that Mendon gave him.”** ****

**  
**

**“God help us,” the CMO breathed, his eyes large.He gave hurried instructions to the assistants and turned to Nelson.**

**  
**

**“Lee said that what the evil one had given him was not yet ready.It would not give sickness to anyone else,” La’ani said quickly, understanding the doctor’s fears.**

**  
**

**“Are you sure?” Doc asked.**

**  
**

**La’ani nodded.“Lee was with us for a little more than a day.No one else has become sick.”**

**  
**

**“We’re taking blood samples now, Admiral.I’ll get one to you in a few minutes.Right now, he’s got over a hundred and four temperature and we’ve got to get it under control.”** ****

**  
**

**Nelson turned to La’ani.“I’m sorry to leave you and Ms Matua, but this is important.”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, it is,” La’ani nodded.“Please find the one that will help Lee.He has been through so much.”** ****

**  
**

**“I know he has,” Harriman said, taking her hand and squeezing it gently.“Thank you.” He left with the bag and went to the lab.Quickly setting up his equipment, the admiral was ready to begin when one of Jamie’s assistants came with a blood sample.**

**  
**

**“Do you need some help, Admiral?” he asked.“The CMO told me to assist you.”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, I want you to label and store the vials as I examine them.Prepare the blood sample for microscopic study,” he ordered.**

**  
**

**It was as though the time stood still.Everything was so slow.Harriman went through each vial, rejecting each when the markers didn’t match.He was beginning to despair when he looked at the next to last one.He checked it again, comparing both the sample and Lee’s blood sample.“Yes!” he hissed.Looking up, his eyes gleaming, he saw that the seaman had been watching him intently.Harriman grinned.“Let’s get this to Doc.”** ****

**  
**

**“Is that the antidote, sir?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes!”** ****

**  
**


	19. New Page 1

**Chapter 18**

**  
**

**  
**

**Harriman breathed a sigh of relief.He looked at the two women again.“I’m afraid I have been a very poor host,” he told them and gave La’ani time to translate before he continued.“I think, now that Captain Crane has received the antidote, you will be more comfortable in different quarters.”** ****

**  
**

**A’ona Matua nodded and got up from the bed on which she had been sitting.La’ani joined her.“Yes, thank you,” she said.**

**  
**

**Nelson opened the door for them and escorted them down the corridor.He walked to Lee’s cabin and unlocked the door for them.**

**A’ona Matua didn’t go in, but asked him a question.“The person this belongs to will not mind?” La’ani translated.**

**  
**

**Harriman shook his head.“No, Lee won’t be using it for a while, Miss Rana’oanui.”** ****

**  
**

**“Please, just La’ani,” she said.**

**  
**

**“Very well,” he acquiesced with a soft smile.“You understand, submarines don’t have extra space, so when visiting dignitaries come on board it is customary for senior officers to give up their cabins for a short time,” he explained.“I will have someone bring in a cot for you, La’ani.”**

**  
**

**A’ona Matua walked on in and sat down on Lee’s bunk.Despite the time of day, she looked tired and drawn.La’ani, on the other hand, turned to Nelson.“Would it be too much trouble if I saw some of the _Seaview_?I am really not that tired.”She looked toward A’ona Matua, who simply nodded.**

**  
**

**“Of course,” Nelson said.“I also wanted to check on your countrymen.”** ****

**  
**

**So bidding the A’ona Matua a good rest, Harriman accompanied La’ani, first to the enlisted men’s territory. The twenty fishermen greeted La’ani exuberantly and felt reassured when the admiral told them they would be safe at American Samoa until they were able to return home.Nelson then led La’ani to the observation deck where the water sluiced across the bow windows.At a hundred feet, light filtered fairy-tale fashion from the surface.**

**  
**

**“I can see why Lee loves this . . . faka’ofo’ofa popao . . . this ‘beautiful canoe.’”She turned to Nelson in sudden realization. “He is the captain, but you . . . you built it, didn’t you?”** ****

**  
**

**“I designed her,” Harriman said quietly.“And had her built.She is the culmination of a lifelong dream.”They stood silently at the bow for several minutes, while only the control room sounds behind them kept them in the real world.“La’ani, there are a few things that puzzle me.Could you answer a couple of my questions?”** ****

**  
**

**“Of course, Admiral.”** ****

**  
**

**“First of all, what . . . what happened in that prison?What did they do to him?” Nelson asked, his voice almost tremulous.He had to clamp down on his emotions.This was not over yet.“I got the impression that you were instrumental in Lee’s escape.”**

**  
**

**“Lee may not think so, but he was the main force behind his escape.I only helped a little.” She gazed into the admiral’s intense blue eyes.“Admiral, Lee spoke through his pain in the . . . sick bay.When we talked before, his only words about you were those of respect and friendship.”** ****

**  
**

**Harriman looked at this woman, who appeared barely out of childhood; saw the tears forming in her eyes.He also saw experience, sorrow and wisdom beyond her years.“What I said to Lee, I meant.He had every right to question.”** ****

**  
**

**“Lee’s attempts to escape angered the leader and even more, Dr. Mendon.There were at least three attempts that I am aware of.Four, if you count the successful one.”** ****

**  
**

_ **In two weeks,** _ ** Nelson thought.He was impressed but not surprised.“Tell me, please.”** ****

**  
**

**“The first escape, I was told, was when the leader was trying to get Lee to voluntarily help him.That one failed because Lee didn’t know that Bomar had recently electrified the balcony at night to keep intruders out.It also kept Lee in.The punishment for that was his burned hand.That seems to be a ritual with the leader.Everyone who displeases him is so marked….”Her voice trailed off.**

**  
**

**Harriman wondered what she wasn’t telling.“Maybe so everyone will have the same disability that Bomar has,” the admiral interjected softly.**

**  
**

**La’ani turned from the hypnotic view of the sea through the great windows and gaped at him.**

**  
**

**Now it was Harriman’s turn to look surprised.“Didn’t you know that Bomar has a maimed hand?” he asked.**

**  
**

**“No,” La’ani answered.“He hid his deformed hand well.Now I know why one hand always remains hidden.”She continued her narrative that seemed to slide deeper and deeper into a realistic version of the hell of Dante’s Inferno.**

**  
**

**Harriman stood watching out of the herculite windows as the young woman continued.The horror of her telling seemed to be increased by some kind of personal hell inside her own soul.Nelson wondered if Bomar had tortured her, but he didn’t interrupt.**

**  
**

**He felt, rather than heard, a presence behind them and assumed it was Commander Morton.He didn’t turn to see.La’ani continued and Nelson knew what they had to do when they had dropped off these refugees.In fact, the part of his mind that wasn’t intent on La’ani’s story was already planning an excursion to Hikeru on the refitted Flying Sub.There was a debt to pay.He would go as soon as Lee was out of the woods.**

**  
**

**When La’ani finished it was silent in the control room for several minutes.Even the machinery behind him seemed subdued.Harriman finally turned and saw that every eye had been on the Polynesian woman.He sighed.This conversation should have taken place in a more private setting. Right now, Harriman realized that it was just as well for both Mendon and Bomar that they were not on _Seaview._** ****

**  
**

**But now the men knew and knowing would prevent speculating.Somehow, he felt they were in a small lull before the storm began again.**

**  
**

**Chip was standing in front of him.“The CMO wanted me to tell you that the captain is responding well to the counteragent,” he said.His delivery was emotionless, but Nelson could see the anger, as well as sorrow behind the intense blue eyes.**

**  
**

**“Thank you, Chip,” Harriman said gratefully.He took a deep breath and then let it out, feeling the tension drain at the same time.His eyes again rested on La’ani, and he suddenly realized that she was still wearing the sarong she had come aboard in.“I have to apologize for not offering you and A’ona Matua dry clothing.”** ****

**  
**

**“I am dry now,” La’ani replied with a soft smile.“And there is no need to apologize.There has been much going on.”She tilted her head a moment.“You said you have another question?”** ****

**  
**

**Yes, he thought, the thing that had puzzled him the most.“How did Lee know we were nearby?Had Bomar found out about us?”The unasked question was that whether Bomar had the kind of sophisticated detection equipment that could find them?** ****

**  
**

**“As far as I know, Bomar did not know you were here until you blew up his gun ship,” she said with a satisfied smile.**

**  
**

**“But how then?”** ****

**  
**

**“A’ona Matua,” replied La’ani, her eyes sparkling with humor.**

**  
**

**That was not the answer Nelson had expected.His astonishment must have been very apparent.**

**  
**

**“The A’ona Matua saw _Seaview_ in a dream.She felt the presence of all of you a day before you rescued us from the gunboat.That night Lee, who felt the same thing through her, sent the message to you.A’ona Matua told me that his tie with you and this submarine was the bonding link that allowed her to see and know.”** ****

**  
**

**Harriman said nothing.He couldn’t.The proof of La’ani’s words was in the events of the past twelve hours.Again there was silence.Who would scoff at such things?Nelson prided himself on being a man of science, but even he knew there were mysteries that could not be explained by science. Finally, he just changed the subject.“Would you like to get a change of clothing for A’ona Matua and yourself, so you ladies can freshen up.That way, too, your clothes can be washed,” he offered.“We can only offer jumpsuits for you, but they will be comfortable during your stay on the _Seaview._”**

**  
**

**“Thank you, Admiral.I would appreciate that.”** ****

**  
**

**He turned to Morton.“Commander, would you escort Miss La’ani to the chop and get suitable clothing for her and A’ona Matua?Then have Chief Sharkey report with his refitting crew to the Flying Sub bay.”** ****

**  
**

**“Aye, aye, sir,” Chip said crisply.** ****

**  
**

**Nelson descended into the Flying Sub.He was determined to have everything ready for that last piece that would complete the puzzle.The super-ionic propulsion system was only the beginning.And if Mendez’ equation would overcome the destructive properties that the super high speeds of the new drive created, then the possibilities were endless.The only thing that frustrated him was his inability to come up with the solution himself.That would have prevented the deaths of several men and the near death of others, particularly his own captain.Nelson had no intention of allowing any more such death and suffering.** ****

**  
**

**  
**

**Chip escorted the young woman toward the captain’s cabin, a bundle of clothes in his arms.“Would it be possible to see Captain Crane before I go in the cabin?” she asked.**

**  
**

**He hesitated.The admiral had had that gleam in his eye; the one that meant come hell or high water, a project was going to get done.Morton knew that the propulsion project had been a major part of the admiral’s life for the past eight months, probably longer if truth be known.He knew that Lee’s return was a catalyst for his sudden desire to renew work on it, too.Somehow he didn’t think it was just the information that Lee carried in his head, either.With a mental shrug, Chip realized that he wanted to see Lee, too. Nodding, he handed the clothes to the girl and reached for the intercom on the wall.“Chief Sharkey.”The COB was in the missile room.“Take the refitting team and report to the admiral in the Flying Sub bay,” he ordered.**

**  
**

**“Aye, sir,” came the quick response.**

**  
**

**Chip turned to La’ani and took back the bundle.“Let’s go visit Lee.”** ****

**  
**

**She smiled and nodded.Chip paid close attention to the girl for the first time.She was fairly tall, coming a little past his shoulder; her hair couldn’t have been more than trimmed in her, perhaps, sixteen or seventeen years.Her dark eyes were curious and wise.She appeared serious, but Chip thought he also saw a spark of optimism in her eyes.Somehow the young commander felt that Lee had been very lucky to have attracted the attention of this resourceful girl.And she wasn’t a chore to look at either, he thought.**

**  
**

**They walked into the quarantine section of sickbay, where they found the CMO standing next to his patient.Chip sighed in relief at the verification of the word he had received and passed along to the admiral earlier.Except for the wrist splint on one arm and the bandages on his burned hand, the captain could just as easily been taking a nap. He gazed at the bandage around Lee’s eyes and remembered his own brief bout with blindness.This was going to be hard on his friend.“What’s his prognosis, Doc?”** ****

**  
**

**“Well, considering his condition when he came in, the prognosis is good.His arm was not broken.It was badly bruised and he has a sprained wrist.It’s not a really bad sprain and will heal quickly.The burn has been cared for and should eventually heal as well with only minimal scarring, if any at all.The counter agent has shut down the effects of Mendon’s virus.The captain is very weak from his ordeal, but rest and Cookie’s magic should take care of that problem in about a week or two.”** ****

**  
**

**Morton waited and then asked his own question when nothing else was forthcoming.He dreaded the answer.“What about his eyes?”** ****

**  
**

**“That one is a bit trickier.I think I have isolated the biochemical.There was no counteragent in the vials so I have to go slow. Seems to be a highly sophisticated chemical that duplicates, to a much greater degree, the same solution that is used by ophthalmologists for certain eye tests,” Doc explained.** ****

**  
**

**Chip was puzzled.“But that wears off.”** ****

**  
**

**“Indeed, but Mendon built a self-replicating catalyst into it.With the introduction of oxygen, the body is fooled into reproducing the chemical biologically.”** ****

**  
**

**The commander was flabbergasted. _What kind of demonic brain would think of something that perverse?_“Can it be reversed?”** ****

**  
**

**“I think so, when I have the means and the help to create the counter agent, probably back at the Institute.”**

**  
**

**Chip nodded.Lee muttered incoherently in his sleep.**

**  
**

**“I think he’ll eventually overcome the psycho-active drugs as well,” Jamieson added, almost to himself.“It will just take a bit of time.”** ****

**  
**

**La’ani had said nothing.Now she reached over and touched Lee on the shoulder.She murmured something in her own language.Then she looked up at Chip.“I need to go to the A’ona Matua.She will want to know that Lee is better.”**

**  
**

**Morton nodded.He had seen something in the girl’s eyes that he didn’t think Lee was aware of.He didn’t think La’ani saw Lee as simply someone she chose to rescue or as a friend or father figure.However, he wasn’t going to even think about any emotional consequences of this situation.He picked up the bundle of clothes that he had carried from the chop and escorted La’ani to Lee’s cabin.**


	20. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 19**

**  
**

**  
**

**Lee was in Nepal again.It was the same temple, the same inner corridor and then in the same room where he had spent the short time with Mendez.This time, though, there was no welcoming Prandjit, no dinner, no light.The room was mostly dark. There was a candle in a far corner.Lee felt the wall for a light switch.He knew there had been one before.Finally, he found it, but there was no light when he flipped it.**

**  
**

**He saw dark and ominous shapes, shadows exaggerated and grotesque.Suddenly he tripped over something on the floor.Feeling around his feet, Lee touched a still, cold body.He sucked in his breath and crawled toward the candle.With a trembling hand he picked it up off the tiny table where it had been sitting and carried it back to the body.Mendez!He checked for a pulse.Mendez was dead.**

**  
**

**Suddenly it was gone.There was still darkness, but instead of grotesque shadows, it was complete.He heard the soft sounds of machinery and the gentle, almost imperceptible movements of a submarine at sea._Seaview!_He was on board.Then the memory of the recent past came back.But how long had he been unconscious?Lee listened, but heard nothing else.He was alone.The smell of antiseptics told him he was in sickbay.**

**  
**

**Lee slowly sat up, feeling lightly wrapped gauze around his burned hand as he did so.His right wrist was encased in a rigid splint from the base of his fingers to several inches below the wrist, but there was no cast.He flexed his fingers.There was pain, but not any of the numbness as before.Then he realized just how clear-headed he was.Yes, he was still tired; exhausted, in fact, but he felt no headache, no nausea, and no fever.One of those vials must have held the counter-agent for whatever Mendon had given him.The dream came back with bruising force and Lee felt panic setting in.He remembered Mendon’s words--“_You will be the instrument in the destruction of my most bitter enemy.”_Panic was fed by horror that carved itself on his heart and seared his brain.Mendon had been talking about the admiral!He had to see the admiral!** ****

**  
**

**Crane felt the presence of a needle and he again felt the overwhelming horror of something coursing through his veins.He tried to reach for the IV, tried to follow its path, but the bandages thwarted him.Cursing softly under his breath, gasping in sudden panic, he pondered what to do next when he felt a hand on his shoulder.He hadn’t heard anyone approaching.“Doc?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes,” came the voice of the CMO.“You are obviously feeling better.”** ****

**  
**

**“You found the antidote?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes,” Jamieson answered softly.**

**  
**

**He took a tremulous breath and felt a great shudder course through his body.“Take it out,” he whispered.** ****

**  
**

**“What, Lee?”** ****

**  
**

**“The needle.Please.Take it out.”His voice was a whisper, but he was hard pressed not to shout his desire.** ****

**  
**

**“Captain, this is the only way I’ve had to replenish the fluids in your body and to give you the antibiotics you needed while you were asleep.You were dangerously dehydrated and had a very high fever.”** ****

**  
**

**“I know, Doc.And I understand and appreciate what you’re doing.”Suppressing the horror of what was violating his body, Lee brought his mind back to what he knew was most important.“I have to see the admiral,” Lee said, his feeling of impending doom rising almost enough to choke him.“Now!It’s vital!”He had tried to sound calm, but was afraid that he sounded hysterical.Doc said nothing.**

**  
**

**  
**

**Will Jamieson gazed steadily at the man in front of him—a man still very much under the effects of his two weeks in hell.There was no doubt in the doctor’s mind that Lee Crane did have vitally important information, but the psychologist part of his medical degree saw something else.There was some deeper need buried far into the heart and soul of the _Seaview’s_ captain and he wasn’t sure exactly what it was or consequently, how to go about meeting it.“I finally ordered the admiral to bed three hours ago, Lee.It’s four in the morning.He has been worried about you, engrossed in his project, and therefore not sleeping well.”** ****

**  
**

**“I can relate to that sleeping well part,” Crane said bitterly.**

**  
**

**And Jamieson knew exactly what the captain was talking about.It was his silence that had brought the doctor in from the main sickbay to check on Lee.When he was sleeping, Crane was anything but restful and finally the CMO had given him a sedative.It was always easy to tell when it wore off.Doc paused in thought.He knew Nelson had given strict orders to be informed when Lee was awake and coherent, so that wasn’t an issue.But still….** ****

**  
**

**“The admiral wants this information.I know he left orders.”** ****

**  
**

**If the situation weren’t so serious, Doc would be laughing.Those two men were so much on each other’s wavelength at times; it wasn’t funny.“I’ll call him, Lee.”He turned toward the intercom, but Crane reached out and awkwardly caught his arm.**

**  
**

**“No, Doc, I’ll go to his cabin.”**

**  
**

**Now Jamie did a double take, aghast at the suggestion.“Captain Crane, you may be feeling better, but you’re not that much better.”** ****

**  
**

**“The admiral’s cabin is secure. He has the equipment to get part of what I have for him,” Lee insisted.**

**  
**

**Jamieson thought the voice sounded almost plaintive, pleading.That need, the doctor thought again.That desperate need to be a viable part of what was going on around him.That’s it! Jamie thought.Lee Crane had a deep, unverbalized need to be in control of something—anything, in an existence that had spiraled totally out of his control.“Let me undo the IV’s and help you up,” he finally agreed.“Then we’ll see.”** ****

**  
**

**He felt exhaustion in the body that leaned against his, even after eighteen hours of rest and intravenous fluids.How the hell Lee had managed to dive and swim under that gunboat and live was beyond him.When Crane was free of the various liquid cocktails, he slid to the floor, where he stood wavering slightly.** ****

**  
**

**“You all right?” Jamie queried.** ****

**  
**

**“Sure as hell have felt better,” Crane admitted in a soft voice.**

**  
**

**“Let me help you to the admiral’s cabin.Then I can guide you back when you two are finished.”As soon as Jamieson had said the words, he knew he had said the wrong thing.”** ****

**  
**

**“No.”** ****

**  
**

**Doc waited.**

**  
**

**“No!I have to do this myself.”Then Lee laughed, a short bark that held a bitter edge.“I told someone once that I knew the _Seaview_ so well that I could walk her blindfolded.Well, now’s my chance to prove it.”** ****

**  
**

**“That’s not the issue, Captain,” Jamieson protested.** ****

**  
**

**“The issue is that I may not ever be able to walk her corridors again!” he shouted angrily.As though fighting an inner battle for control of his emotions, Lee added in a lower, calmer voice.“Let me at least do this, Jamie.Let me do this vitally important thing . . . myself.”** ****

**  
**

**Jamieson said nothing.Everything in his training told him that what the captain proposed was not only unnecessary, but also dangerous.Lee wasn’t physically able.He studied the angry, desperate, frightened—yes, Lee Crane was scared.He was frightened of losing everything that was important to him.“You sure you have the stamina to get to the admiral’s cabin?” he asked.**

**  
**

**“Of course,” Crane said with a wry smile.“Up the corridor, ladder, down corridor….”** ****

**  
**

**“You made your point, Captain.But I want you to promise me something.”** ****

**  
**

**“What?” he asked dubiously.**

**  
**

**“Use the intercom if you have trouble. Less than twenty-four hours ago, I wouldn’t have given much more than a tinker’s damn for your chances.Pumped full of all kind of garbage and nothing to eat for Lord knows how long.”** ****

**  
**

**“Your concoction is guaranteed,” Crane smirked.**

**  
**

**Bravado, thought Jamie.“I would have given you the high test IV if I had known you wanted to make an excursion.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee smiled.“By the way, I promise.Just promise me that you won’t send one of the men to shadow me.”** ****

**  
**

**Jamieson sighed.“I can’t do that, Lee and you know it.When you leave, if I think you need someone just in case, I won’t hesitate.”Crane frowned, but said nothing.Jamie helped the captain on with the rubber-soled service shoes and then pulled out a robe, helping Crane put it on.“I assume you realized that you only have a sprained wrist.I have only immobilized it, but I still want you to avoid using the hand to do more than touch things.”** ****

**  
**

**“Thank goodness for small favors,” Lee murmured.**

**  
**

**“Let me help you to the door.Doctor’s prerogative.”** ****

**  
**

**Crane nodded and leaned on Jamieson as they moved to the door.Again, the doctor questioned his decision to allow the captain to do this.They stopped in front of the door and the CMO opened it for his patient.“Coast is clear, Captain,” he murmured.**

**  
**

**“Thanks, Jamie,” Lee replied in a fervent voice.He stood quietly and then turned down the corridor toward officer’s country.**

**  
**

**Jamie was pleased to see that although the skipper’s pace was slow, it was steady.The man was going to make it come hell or high water, he thought with a shake of his head.He went back into the sick bay and shook the dozing medical technician.“Cooper, I want you to very discreetly follow the captain.He’s not to know you are behind him unless it appears he’s going to get hurt.”**

**  
**

**“Then I heard you two right?The skipper’s heading to the admiral’s cabin on his own?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, Coop.”**

**  
**

**The rating nodded, shoved his feet in his sneakers and then slipped out of sickbay.** ****

**  
**

**Doc picked up the private line that would connect him with Admiral Nelson.After several moments, a sleepy voice answered, almost incomprehensibly.“Admiral?It’s Doc.”** ****

**  
**

**It was as if a switch had been flipped.“Jamie?How’s Lee?”** ****

**  
**

**“Uh, much better, Admiral.But I do want to warn you that you have a visitor coming to your cabin.”** ****

**  
**

**There was a pause and then a muffled curse.“At this hour?You?And if Lee is better, couldn’t you have waited another hour?”** ****

**  
**

**“No, not me.I’m afraid your visitor isn’t quite aware of the passage of time just yet,” he said and then paused, deciding just how to break this.Bluntly, he decided almost instantly.“It’s Lee.”There was another pause and Jamieson held the receiver an inch or two from his ear.**

**  
**

**“What the hell possessed you to let him go wandering the corridors in his condition?”** ****

**  
**

**“Admiral, his physical condition isn’t what prompted me to give in to his demand,” the CMO said meaningfully.“And I sent someone to follow discreetly, just in case.”** ****

**  
**

**There was a moment’s silence and then the voice answered more softly.“I think I understand, Jamie.”** ****

**  
**

**“I figured you would, Admiral.When he’s finished giving you the information he told me was so vital, let him bunk in your cabin. I don’t want him back until he’s rested and had some breakfast.”** ****

**  
**

**“Of course.”** ****

**  
**

**“And when he’s sacked out, call me.I want to check him over.”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes,” Nelson said simply.**

**  
**

**Jamieson set down the receiver and then picked up a lukewarm cup of coffee.He looked inside the cup and grimaced, then went ahead and took a swallow.There was nothing to do but wait, he thought tiredly.**

**  
**

**  
**

**Nelson replaced the receiver and pondered a moment.Lee had felt it imperative to see him at this hour.Of course, Lee had slept for almost eighteen hours.Mendez’s information?He shook his head.No, there had to be more.Something else had impelled Lee to see him alone.Doc had hinted at a psychological need.He would have to talk to Jamieson a bit more about that. He knew that what motivated his captain right now was pretty much determined by that two weeks in Mendon’s ‘care.’But Lee would also have a concrete reason to see him, not just some deep-seated need to prowl the corridors blind.Harriman looked down and realized that he was only dressed in his underwear.Then he chuckled softly.Captain Crane wouldn’t know.That quickly sobered him at the thought of a possible future.He threw on his pants and shirt and had turned to heat up a cup of instant coffee when someone tapped softly on his cabin door.**

**  
**

**Harriman almost said ‘come in,’ but he didn’t.Although the admiral had left his door unlocked when the doctor had placed the ‘curfew’ on him, he realized that even so, Lee wouldn’t be able to negotiate the knob without difficulty.Quickly, he turned and opened the door.Lee was leaning against the frame catching his breath.As the door opened, he straightened up.Out of the corner of his eye, Nelson saw the med technician gazing at them.He nodded and the man slipped silently back down the corridor.**

**  
**

**“Admiral, I have some important information.Is it all right to come in?”** ****

**  
**

**“Do you think I’d say no?”** ****

**  
**

**Lee grinned sheepishly.“No, but on my way I remembered what Doc said about the time.”**

**  
**

**Harriman put his arm around the captain’s shoulders.His breath caught in his throat as he guided the injured man into his cabin.“Lee, it’s just good to have you back.I don’t care about the hour.”He shut the door behind them.“Have a seat on my bed while I make us a cup of coffee.”While he poured water from a bottle into a couple of mugs, he watched Lee.Even though it was obvious that the man was physically exhausted he didn’t hesitate, managing to navigate quite well around his desk and to the bed set into the wall.**

**  
**

**“Doc said you had something important to tell me,” Nelson prompted, even as he put the two mugs into a tiny microwave.**

**  
**

**“I figured he’d call you,” Lee said, leaning with a sigh against the wall. **

**  
**

**“Well, yes.You didn’t think he would?”** ****

**  
**

**There was a grin, characteristic of the young captain.It heartened Nelson to see it.“No, I figured he would,” Lee admitted.“Kind of surprised me when he let me out of sickbay.”** ****

**  
**

**“Surprise wouldn’t cover what I felt,” Harriman quipped.He pulled the mugs out and then realized that Lee might have problems with his.“You ready for some coffee, lad?”** ****

**  
**

**“When it’s cooled a bit.”** ****

**  
**

**Nelson nodded and placed Lee’s cup on the desk.** ****

**  
**

**“Admiral, Mendon’s going to plant a contagion among his enemies—very, very soon.I think my escape will push his timetable ahead.He called it his _jihad_.He worships Josef Mengele and he managed to create a different variant of this damned virus twice in a six day period,” Lee said in a rush.“We need to go back now.He once worked for the Republic, so I believe that he’ll target the U.S., probably LA or San Diego or . . . Santa Barbara.”He stopped abruptly and took a deep, shuddering breath.“But I think his real target is . . . you.”**

**  
**   



	21. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 20**

**  
**

**  
**

**“Me?What makes you think that, Lee?”But Harriman remembered Ajaamil’s statement about his effect on the downfall of the Republic.**

**  
**

**Crane shrugged and then took a deep breath.“Mostly it’s a gut feeling, but it’s based on small things Mendon mentioned.Much of it’s jumbled and some could be exaggerated because of the drugs.”Lee grimaced.“But I know I wasn’t imagining Mendon’s hatred of the Navy or me.I’m positive that included you.”**

**  
**

**Harriman paced the small confines of his office.And Mendon had a hero worship of Mengele.That would explain the cute trick he’d done to Lee’s eyes.Somehow, he didn’t doubt the veracity of Lee’s feelings and suppositions.He sat down behind his desk.**

**  
**

**“Admiral, what about Mendon?” Lee asked impatiently.**

**  
**

**“Lee, let me explain what’s going on and then we can consider how we’re going to stop this maniac.”** ****

**  
**

**Crane’s lips tightened and Harriman knew that his captain was not happy with this apparent inactivity.“We are about eighteen hours out from American Samoa; about twenty from Hikeru.We can’t undertake a mission to neutralize Mendon or Bomar with two dozen civilians on board.”**

**  
**

**“But Admiral…."** ****

**  
**

**“Here me out, Captain,” Nelson said brusquely.Then his voice softened.“Lee, I guessed some of what you told me, knew some more.I am not unmindful of Mendon’s threat, but two or, at the most, three days of careful planning and intelligence gathering, I believe, could mean a much better chance of victory against these people.”**

**  
**

**“But Admiral, if we go to American Samoa first, then at the earliest, that’s thirty-six hours back.”Lee paused and then made a self-deprecating gesture.“The Flying Sub.Someone could get back to Hikeru in five or six hours.”**

**  
**

**Nelson smiled.“You are beginning to think strategically again, but you don’t have all the facts.”Harriman gazed at all the diagrams and notes on his desk.“Did you want that cup of coffee now?Might be too cool.”**

**  
**

**Crane nodded.He took the cup awkwardly, but managed enough to take a sip.Then he grimaced.“Here,” he said tersely, handing the cup back to the admiral.“I’ll wait for Cookie’s version, if you don’t mind.”**

**  
**

**Nelson laughed.“You’ve always been too picky about your coffee to be a real military man.”He set the cup aside and continued soberly.“Doctor’s orders-- you do need something to drink, especially if we’re going to plan a particularly fitting reward for Mendon.”**

**  
**

**Lee snorted. “Anything wet.”**

**  
**

**As Nelson poured water into another mug, he was relieved to see that Lee seemed to have accepted, at least for the moment, that his concerns weren’t being ignored.He was also gratified that Lee had started shifting from prisoner to captain mode.“The Flying Sub is being refitted right now,” Nelson explained, as he placed the new mug in Lee’s bandaged hand.“I have the new propulsion system in place, only lacking a few modifications.”**

**  
**

**Lee started, almost dropping the mug, then he frowned.“You mean…” he began angrily.**

**  
**

**“I mean that I only lack what you carry in your head to finish.”He paused and watched as Lee calmed, also noticing how haggard he still appeared.This conversation would have to end soon.“This propulsion drive, which you know so little about and yet has caused you such pain and suffering, is going to put transportation on its ear.”**

**  
**

**“Bomar said something about fleets to the stars.”** ****

**  
**

**“He did?”Harriman rubbed his chin.“No wonder he wanted you so badly.”With a sigh, the admiral leaned forward and took the now empty cup from his captain’s hand.“I’m sorry, Lee, I truly am.I….”**

**  
**

**“It’s over,” Crane said tersely, shrugging.** ****

**  
**

**Nelson nodded, realizing that this would be a separate conversation at a later date.Or it may never happen, he thought in chagrin.Lee was so reticent about his own inner feelings.Harriman sighed, realizing that he was, too.“Bomar is right to a certain degree, but that’s years away.The propulsion drive is based on the ionization of particles.It would be easier to show you on paper, but suffice it to say, a vehicle with such a drive unit would make a supersonic transport seem like a tricycle.”**

**  
**

**Crane leaned forward, his mouth open in astonishment.“And you’re testing it on the Flying Sub?”**

**  
**

**“Yes. The only problem we have is how to avoid the stress that such speeds would cause a vehicle.”** ****

**  
**

**“And that’s where Mendez comes in.”** ****

**  
**

**Harriman sighed.“That’s where you come in.Mendez is dead.”**

**  
**

**“What?” Lee gasped.“Dead?” he asked in a small voice, but continued before Nelson could respond.“I just dreamed about him.That’s why I came tonight.In my dream, I found him dead . . . in his hideaway.”**

**  
**

**The admiral just stared at the injured man a moment before saying anything.“That’s exactly where he was murdered.Prandjit brought word along with the device Mendez had used to implant the information.”**

**  
**

**“But that means that someone else has his notes,” Lee said sourly.** ****

**  
**

**“No.Prandjit claims, and I believe him, that Mendez kept no permanent notes.The equations were all in his head.**

**  
**

**“And now in mine,” Lee mused.**

**  
**

**“Yes.”** ****

**  
**

**“If you have the machine, you have to extract the information-- now.”**

**  
**

**“No, Captain,” Harriman said gently.“This is the timetable.And hear me out before you start protesting again.”After a bit of hesitation, Crane nodded.“You are going to have a good breakfast, courtesy of Cookie.Oh, and by the way, our illustrious cook told me when we set out that he was saving a package of sausage, some real eggs and the fixings for fresh biscuits for just this occasion.”Lee chuckled, but Nelson could tell that he was also touched by the gesture.“Then you’re going to rest up.Later today, if Doc declares you fit enough, we’ll extract Mendez’s information.I will then make the modifications and take the Flying Sub on a test run.If all goes well, in about a day and a half, we’ll return to Hikeru and, hopefully catch Mendon.”**

**  
**

**“We?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, Lee.If at all possible, you need to be involved.You have been on the island; you know it better.You know Mendon better,” he said with a sigh, running his hand through his hair.“Hell, I don’t even know what he looks like, only who he is.”Lee seemed taken aback for a moment.“I know it will be hard on you, Lee, but if you pace it and rest on the _Seaview_, I think you can do it.”**

**  
**

**Crane’s face become stone hard.“Anything to put Mendon away,” Lee said bitterly.**

**  
**

**“Nothing strenuous—mainly consulting,” Nelson said sternly.His tone softened considerably.“But I also think it fitting that you be one of the first to experience this new drive.”**

**  
**

**“Thanks.”Lee leaned back against the wall and yawned.**

**  
**

**Harriman smiled and went to the intercom, tapping a couple of buttons.“Yes, this is the admiral.Have two breakfasts sent to my cabin for Captain Crane and I.The works.And tell Cookie to make sure the coffee is fresh.”**

**  
**

**When he turned back, he saw Lee grinning softly.“It’s mighty good to be back home.”**

**  
**

**“And mighty good for you to be back, too.”** ****

**  
**

**When breakfast came, Harriman saw that most of the items on the captain’s tray were easily handled.He made breakfast sandwiches out of the biscuits, eggs and sausage and then set the tray on Lee’s lap. He knew Crane well enough to not offer to do more.“Coffee’s pretty hot.I’ll hand it over when it’s tolerably cooled.Let me know if you need anything else.”**

**  
**

**The meal was consumed in contented silence.Lee leaned against the wall again before he was totally finished with the meal, but he gave a contented sigh.**

**  
**

**Nelson took the tray, noticing that the burned hand was twitching.“You get enough?”**

**  
**

**“Yeah, for now,” he replied.“Gotta give this hand a break anyway.”**

**  
**

**“Painful?”** ****

**  
**

**Lee nodded, yawning again, acting as though he was trying hard to stay awake.“I guess I ought to get to my cabin,” he mumbled.**

**  
**

**“Your cabin is occupied by the ladies,” Nelson said dryly, realizing that Lee was already half asleep.“You’re bunking here, and that’s an order.You are in no shape to go anywhere, Captain.”**

**  
**

**“Aye, aye, sir,” Lee murmured, promptly lying down.He was immediately asleep.**

**  
**

**Nelson pulled an extra blanket out and laid it over the injured man.He returned to his desk and studied the charts.After a while he called sickbay.“You wanted to check Lee over?” he asked softly, even though he figured he could drop a bomb and it wouldn’t affect his cabin mate.**

**  
**

**Doc arrived in a few minutes.He noticed the trays and nodded in approval.He then did a quick check of his patient.After he was finished, Jamieson sat down in the empty chair and gazed at Nelson, who had said nothing throughout the examination.**

**  
**

**“Well?” Harriman asked, his voice low.** ****

**  
**

**“He is remarkably well, physically,” the doctor said.“I think he will fully recover in time.”**

**  
**

**“Even the eyes?”** ****

**  
**

**“I think so,” Doc said and told the admiral almost verbatim what he had explained to Chip.** ****

**  
**

**Harriman mentally cursed Mendon.“I want Lee with me when I test the Flying Sub.”**

**  
**

**Jamieson gaped at him.“You can’t be serious.”**

**  
**

**“He’ll be needed on Hikeru when I go back to deal with Bomar and Mendon.”** ****

**  
**

**“You’re nuts,” the CMO said candidly.“What consequences do you think that will have on Lee?Physically, he’s been abused enough, but mentally?We don’t know what effect all those damned psycho-altering drugs have had on him,” he hissed, trying to keep his voice low as well.“And for another thing, do you think they’ll still be there by the time you get back there?”**

**  
**

**Nelson sighed.“I leave the ultimate decision up to you, Jamie.The last month all I have geared toward is getting Lee back.I certainly don’t want to do anything that will prevent him from staying.”**

**  
**

**Doc nodded, mollified.“Let’s see what a day of rest does and I will talk with him; feel him out.”**

**  
**

**Nelson expressed his acceptance and then changed the subject.“The Flying Sub, when I finish the modifications, will get to Hikeru in about an hour from American Samoa.”**

**  
**

**Doc whistled softly.“You weren’t kidding about the importance of this new invention, were you?”**

**  
**

**“And if you also come, we might find the counter-agent for that chemical Mendon gave Lee a great deal more quickly,” Nelson added.**

**  
**

**Jamieson’s brow was furrowed in thought.“What is your time table for all of this?”**

**  
**

**“I’m thinking a day and a half, tops.”** ****

**  
**

**Jamieson didn’t look totally happy.He kept glancing at Lee, who had begun muttering in his sleep.“He’s done quite a bit of that since he came back.Doesn’t make for very restful sleep.I’m going to sickbay and get a sedative.I hate to do it, but….”**

**  
**

**“Go ahead, I’ll keep an eye on him.”** ****

**  
**

**“Try not to wake him, unless it appears he’s going to do himself harm,” the CMO instructed as he left.** ****

**  
**

**Harriman tried to concentrate on his notes, but Lee’s babblings became louder and more coherent.Finally, the admiral moved his chair closer to the bed.The dreams, if they could be called that, seemed to involve _Seaview_ when she had sunk several years ago.Lee felt keenly the deaths that had occurred at that time, even as he had.This dream/nightmare proved that Lee’s feelings of guilt had not entirely gone away.**

**  
**

**As Lee kept calling, not only Blake’s name, but the names of others who had died, Nelson reached out to wake him.This had to stop.Then he remembered Doc’s admonition and dropped his hand to his lap.Instead Harriman spoke softly, hoping to reassure Lee without waking him up.**

**  
**

**With a gasp, the captain fell silent.He lay quietly for a while and the admiral began to think his strategy had worked.Then Lee began again.“Don’t go away, Dad.Please, don’t go.I didn’t mean it.I . . . I don’t….”As though peeling itself from a deep, dark, hidden and forgotten childhood memory, a single set of whispered words.“….hate you.”A pause.“Believe me, Dad.Please.I don’t….”**

**  
**

**Harriman remembered the phone call he had received after the captain’s debriefing following the Republic’s almost successful attempt to brainwash him.It had been from Lee’s mother.She had been worried.Lee wouldn’t talk to her; wouldn’t tell her what had happened, except to say that he had almost killed the admiral and almost killed his crew.Then he had said no more; had been emotionless and silent for another day before he had abruptly left.Allison Crane had been worried about him. He had been like he was when his father had been killed in a boating accident, she said.How old was he, Harriman had asked her.Lee had not said much to him about his childhood, and certainly nothing about his father.He had been nine at the time, she had told him.And he had not cried at his father’s funeral or any time after.**

**  
**

**Something had caused young Lee Crane to shut away, but not totally forget some feeling, thought or action that caused guilt.Realization hit Nelson.Lee’s deeper feelings of personal responsibility over the deaths of any crewmember had to stem from this early incident.The captain felt these things inside in a way that while, not debilitating, certainly were deeply internalized.Mendon’s psycho drugs had made it much harder to deal with the old emotions.Jamie had been right. Lee’s physical condition was the least of his problems.**

**  
**

**“I’m sorry I didn’t go with you, Dad,” Lee continued.“I’m sorry I was mad at you.”The voice was rising in its anguish.“Then you wouldn’t have gone out alone.”**

**  
**

**“Lee, it’s all right,” Harriman said gently.“It’s all right.”**

**  
**

**Again, Crane was silent, then in a very small voice he asked, “What?”** ****

**  
**

**“It’s all right, Lee.It was an accident,” Harriman said, his voice just as soft.He didn’t know what else to do, how else he could help this guilt ridden, tortured young man.He was beginning to get a picture of what most likely happened to Lee so long ago.A child, angry with his parent, bursting out with things he didn’t really mean….**

**  
**  
**“But . . . but two of us….So hard to man the boat alone. You said so….” Lee  
moaned.“You’d be alive  
if I had come with you.”**


	22. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 21**

**  
**

**  
**

**Nelson was getting an even clearer picture of what had most likely happened and he felt horror gripping his heart.He had tried to calm Lee down and now . . . now Lee thought he was talking to his father.And thought he was his father!Harriman was no psychiatrist.Lee’s face was turned toward him.What the hell was he supposed to do, Harriman asked himself?Almost instantly, he knew.“No, Lee, I wouldn’t.We would both be dead,” the admiral said softly, but meaningfully.“It was an accident.You shouldn’t blame yourself.”**

**  
**

**“But I . . . was mad at you.You wouldn’t….”** ****

**  
**

**“Lee, we all get angry at times.Even those who love each other get angry at one another. Say things we really don’t mean.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee was silent for several moments.Then in a voice barely audible, he asked, “Then you still love me?”** ****

**  
**

**Harriman would have cried if he didn’t have this role to play out.He had never had children, but he could still imagine the pain and suffering that a young child might have with something like this.That a child would have to carry such a burden; carry it and still rise above it….Nelson was incredulous.“Of course I do, Lee,” he said, his voice husky with emotion as he imagined just what the elder Crane would have said.What else would Lee’s father most likely have said if he were here now?“And very proud of you, too.”And Harriman felt that his own feelings were similar.** ****

**  
**

**Lee smiled softly, then he sucked in air in a sudden sobbing breath, murmuring something Harriman couldn’t understand.**

**  
**

**He had done all he could do.“I have to go Lee.But . . . but you only have to look inside you to find me.”Where had that come from, Harriman asked himself?Then he remembered his own father saying that to him just before he had died.It had been just before his first command.** ****

**  
**

**Lee Crane murmured something else and then turned his face to the wall.After a moment, Nelson knew he was finally doing what he had been unable to do as a nine-year-old boy.** ****

**  
**

**Almost silently, Harriman slipped out of the room.He would not stay and watch something that was so very private.He almost ran into Doc as he shut the door behind him.**

**  
**

**“Why are you leaving?” the CMO asked.**

**  
**

**“Jamie, believe me when I say that Lee is perfectly safe.I just felt that he needed a few minutes of privacy,” Harriman tried to explain.** ****

**  
**

**“Huh?”** ****

**  
**

**“Don’t ask, because I am not going to tell you.If Lee wants to later, it’s his prerogative,” the admiral said firmly.Somehow, he doubted that Lee ever would.**

**  
**

**Doc shook his head.“Serving on this sub has some rare benefits, Harriman.”** ****

**  
**

**“What?”** ****

**  
**

**“You and Lee Crane,” came the wry answer.**

**  
**

**Nelson smiled softly and headed down the corridor to Morton’s cabin, where Prandjit was staying.He was greeted effusively.The Nepalese man offered him some tea, which Harriman accepted, and a seat, which he also accepted.**

**  
**

**“I’m sorry I have neglected you, Mr. Prandjit.Things have been rather busy lately.”** ****

**  
**

**“I totally understand,” Prandjit answered thoughtfully.“How is Captain Crane?”** ****

**  
**

**“Recovering very well,” Nelson replied.“In fact, I think we might be able to get that information from him this afternoon.”**

**  
**

**Prandjit nodded.“I can set up everything for you.The machine is quite easy to use.I will also bring the captain some of my tea, now that your cook and I have come to an understanding….”** ****

**  
**

**Harriman laughed as he left the cabin.He returned to his own cabin and tapped softly.There was no answer.He tapped again and thought he heard a muffled something.Nelson entered and found Crane emerging from the head, clumsily using both hands to wipe his face with a hand towel.**

**  
**

**“The best I can do until I can see what I’m doing,” he said lightly, laying the towel on the small sink and making his way back to the bunk.**

**  
**

**“Let me help you get that back on,” Harriman offered as Lee tried to reapply the bandage.**

**  
**

**“Thanks, Admiral.I wish I didn’t have to wear it, but it hurt like hell when I had it off and opened my eyes,” he said resignedly as the admiral finished the job and applied the clips that would hold the bandage in place.“How long have you been gone?”** ****

**  
**

**“I just went out to stretch for a few minutes.Bending over those blueprints can be very hard on the back.You seemed to be sleeping well.I didn’t wake you when I left, did I?”** ****

**  
**

**Crane shook his head.“I just wondered if you had felt . . . well, felt something different before you left.”** ****

**  
**

**“Like what,” Nelson asked, not sure what Lee might be fishing for.** ****

**  
**

**“Like a presence.”** ****

**  
**

**Now Nelson was intrigued.What had he felt, other than the pain of a past brought forward to the present?Obviously Lee was referring to his pretending to be the younger man’s father.“You referring to a ghost or something?”** ****

**  
**

**“Maybe,” Lee said noncommittally.** ****

**  
**

**“I did feel something, but it wasn’t unpleasant or menacing and it eventually went away.Otherwise, I’d have never left the cabin.”** ****

**  
**

**“I was also dreaming.La’ani says I talk my head off when I sleep now.I guess it has something to do with the psycho-whatever drugs Mendon gave me.”Lee turned toward him expectantly.More fishing.** ****

**  
**

**Harriman chuckled.“Oh, yes, you were, but it was mostly incomprehensible.All I could gather was something about the time the sub sank and a little bit about your father,” Nelson said evasively.“Someday you’ll have to tell me about him.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee sighed, obviously relieved.“I guess I should get back to sickbay,” he said, changing the subject.**

**  
**

**“I guess you really need to get some more rest,” Nelson shot back.“That little nap didn’t do more than tell your body that you need more.You still look like something the cat dragged in.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee laughed, this time comfortably.“Thanks.”** ****

**  
**

**“And if you don’t mind me coming and going periodically, I think you’ll be more comfortable in my cabin, rather than in sickbay.”_And private_, Harriman added mentally.There was absolutely no argument from his captain this time.As if on cue, Doc showed up and gave his patient a cup of juice laced with a sedative.Soon Lee was asleep again.**

**  
**

**============================** ****

**  
**

**  
**

**La’ani stood next to A’ona Matua on the deck of the _Seaview_, watching as their countrymen disembarked into small harbor craft.Most were only too quick to leave, having felt enclosed by the narrow corridors and small, cramped rooms with no windows.While she preferred the open sky and sea, La’ani had felt strangely comfortable on board the submarine.She thought A’ona Matua felt the same way.American Samoa turned gold in the setting sun.There had been a storm earlier in the day and the submarine had stayed out to sea until it passed.Now they sat just outside the harbor that was too shallow to accommodate the _Seaview_.** ****

**  
**

**As she watched, a manta-like shape glided under the _Seaview_ and swam toward the open ocean.It was bright yellow and certainly was not a living thing.And yet it was alive in a strange sort of way.The admiral, during a very brief visit, had told her of its origin and uses.She watched, fascinated, as it surfaced several hundred feet into the harbor, briefly skimmed the water and then shot into the sky.Within a minute it had disappeared, followed by a loud boom.**

**  
**

**“Guess it worked,” a familiar voice said from behind them.**

**  
**

**La’ani smiled her delight.“Lee!” she cried.Commander Morton, who smiled and greeted the ladies, accompanied him.She had not seen Lee since the blonde-haired officer had taken her to see him and he was in absolutely no condition to see anyone at the time.Now, two days later, Lee was wearing a uniform.Only the bandages told of the recent past.She was amazed at how much better he looked; then La’ani realized that she had been holding her breath.She let it out with a soft sigh.It had been the same when she had risked punishment to take him things that would help him feel better and when she had stayed longer to talk to him in the prison than she was allowed to.She liked Lee Crane and enjoyed being around him.It was something she couldn’t explain; something very deep that drew her to him.**

**  
**

**“You have dealt with the ghosts of your past,” A’ona Matua said, walking up to the captain and laying a hand on his arm.“And you have done well.”** ****

**  
**

**When La’ani translated, Lee looked startled, but said nothing.The girl had no intention of asking either person to what they were referring.“Your Flying Sub is very fast,” she said, changing the subject.**

**  
**

**Lee looked at her gratefully.**

**  
**

**“Yes, ma’am,” Commander Morton said.“Her new engine system is going to revolutionize travel if it holds up.”** ****

**  
**

**“Holds up?” La’ani asked.**

**  
**

**“Well, it has to be tested for longer and longer distances to make sure everything is running right.”** ****

**  
**

**La’ani nodded.A’ona Matua was saying something else to Lee, as though oblivious to the commander.She heard but didn’t translate right away.Commander Morton had stopped speaking, mostly out of politeness, she knew, but probably out of curiosity, as well.Then A’ona Matua said something else that caused stabbings of alarm.She looked at Lee and then back at the old woman, who simply nodded.Taking a deep breath, she said, “A’ona Matua says that you now need to deal with the ghost of your present.She says when you go to Hikeru, she and I will go with you—as is our right.”**

**  
**

**Lee was speechless in shock.Again, he wondered how she had known.Despite what he had said to the admiral, Lee had tried to put the issue out of his mind during the past day.Part of him did want to go back and beat the crap out of Bomar and Mendon—if they were still there.Another part of him was scared to death—not only of returning to his personal house of horror, but that when he got there he wouldn’t be able to confront them much less do anything to them.**

**  
**

**An angry voice broke through his reverie.“Are you all nuts?” Chip cried.“Lee, surely you can’t be considering this after what you’ve been through?”** ****

**  
**

**Lee sighed.“The admiral was the first to suggest it.I . . . I’ve been thinking about it.”** ****

**  
**

**“Then you’re nuts, too,” the XO said fervently.“And the admiral should have known better than to even ask.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee didn’t have to see Chip’s face to know how angry he was, it was palpable in the air as well as in the tone of his voice.“Chip, there are reasons why I will probably go._What are those reasons? _Lee asked himself.Did he have to walk back into that prison, step back on that island?Couldn’t someone else deal with Mendon and Bomar?Despite what he had said, the admiral would be able to recognize Mendon.Perhaps it was the fall off, get back on thing.Perhaps it was more personal than that.Maybe it was the idea that if he asked someone else to finish his battles for him now, he might find it easier in the future to avoid doing what he needed to do.Easier to send others into harm’s way.Lee mentally shook himself.No, he could never do that and he wasn’t going to start now.** ****

**  
**

**“I’m going with the admiral, Chip,” he said decisively.“If he believes I’m needed, then I’m going.”** ****

**  
**

**“Lee,” Chip’s voice sounded frustrated and angry, but it was less strident than before.“Less than forty-eight hours ago you were more dead than alive.You . . . you aren’t physically able.”** ****

**  
**

**On a purely intellectual level, Lee knew his XO was correct, but he felt anger rising along with a frustration that more than matched Chip’s.He turned in the direction of Chip’s voice and addressed him, struggling to keep his anger under minimal control.“What am I supposed to do, Commander?Feel my way up and down _Seaview’s_ corridors, waiting and hoping that someone else might find the antidote for this?” he demanded, pointing to his eyes.“Feeling helpless?Wondering if this will be my last voyage on this boat?On any ship?”The frustration increased, boiled over.“What the hell did you do, Chip?”He took a deep breath.“I’m going, not because I expect to be able to contribute anything, because Lord knows I’m the far side of useless.I’m going because if I don’t go, if I don’t do something, then I’ll end up putting on the biggest pity party of the century.And I refuse to do that.”He stopped and found that he was practically panting.While he felt much closer to normal, Lee realized that it wouldn’t take much to use up the little reserves of energy he had.He softly cursed Mendon as he had so many times in the past two plus weeks.It didn’t make him feel any better than it had any of those times, either.**

**  
**

**“I’m going below,” he growled.Then he paused.The only sound was the water slapping against the hull of the _Seaview_ and seabirds overhead.He wasn't sure of the direction of the conning tower hatch.** ****

**  
**

**“Directly in front of you, Captain,” Chip said softly.**

**“Thank you,” said Lee curtly.**

**  
**

**“And the hatch is open,” his friend added.**


	23. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 22**

**  
**

**  
**

**Harriman Nelson felt the power all around him as the Flying Sub soared through the outer reaches of the stratosphere.It was exhilarating to see the culmination of many years of thought and study and experimentation finally seeing fruition.He eased the craft into a slightly higher altitude and leveled out when he saw, by the instrumentation, that he would soon be approaching the beginnings of space.Someday, he promised himself.Someday.Now he just wanted to make sure that the new propulsion units were working well.He did notice that the fuel consumption was greater than he had anticipated, but that was something he could work on later.The point was that it worked.The theory was not only sound, but feasible. **

**  
**

**“Holy cow, Admiral!” Sharkey gave voice to his feelings.“How high will this new system take us?”**

**  
**

**“Higher than this, I suspect, Chief, but I don’t want to see how high we can go.I only wanted to see how well it works.I suppose if you wanted to be crude about it, I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t blow up on its first test run.”He paused before continuing.“Of necessity, I have to fly her more than I would want to, have more people on board than I would like, so I want to know that the basic functions are safe enough for other passengers.”** ****

**  
**

**“Aye, sir.I understand.”Sharkey gazed awestruck at the bright sky before them, slightly darker above where the atmosphere decreased to airless outer space.**

**  
**

**“I’m going to bring her back down.Make sure you record all the power grid fluctuations as well as speed, hull temperature, everything,” Harriman instructed.**

**  
**

**“Aye, aye, sir.”**

**  
**

**But the remainder of the flight was almost flawless, again, only the fuel consumption being of concern to him.All in all, Harriman was very pleased with the first test of this new system.**

**  
**

**===========================** ****

**  
**

**  
**

**Lee took a deep breath and visualized the _Seaview’s_ deck.He carefully walked the short distance and ducked through the doorway.There he confronted the ladder.Coming up, going down; opposite ends of the same spectrum.He hooked his arms around the rail and began slowly climbing down. As careful as he tried to be, he still slipped the last step and hit the deck hard.**

**  
**

**“You okay, sir?” a seaman asked.It was Porter by the sound of the accent.**

**  
**

**“Yes, RJ, thanks,” he replied.He took a moment to get his bearings, as well as his breath.**

**  
**

**“Need some help getting somewhere, sir?” Porter asked from closer to him.**

**  
**

**“No,” Lee answered quickly, and then he realized that a certain amount of pride was going to have to be swallowed.“Are you busy right now?”** ****

**  
**

**“No, sir.Just comin’ off my duty watch, sir.”** ****

**  
**

**“Porter?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, sir?”** ****

**  
**

**“This is the _Seaview_, not the last boat you served on.You can leave off about three quarters of the ‘sirs’,” he said with a smile.**

**  
**

**“Yes, sir, uh, sure thing, Skipper.”** ****

**  
**

**“I would appreciate it if you would accompany me.Just to make sure I don’t miscalculate and fall down a stairwell.I was very lucky on my first excursion.”** ****

**  
**

**“I heard about that.Don’t know if I could have done that.”** ****

**  
**

**“I guess you do what you have to do, RJ.But looking back, it wasn’t just luck, it was dumb luck.”** ****

**  
**

**“Where did you need to go, Skipper?” Porter asked, ignoring Crane’s last remark.** ****

**  
**

**“Forward, control room.Radio shack first, to be specific,” Lee told him.He started off, not waiting for a reply, seeing in his mind the corridor, the ladder, this time navigated much more smoothly, then another corridor.**

**  
**

**“Hatch, Captain,” Porter’s voice warned him.** ****

**  
**

**He had almost tripped over one that first night, too.Had it only been a day and a half ago, he wondered?“Thanks,” he said, stepping over and ducking at the same time.** ****

**  
**

**“Hey, Skipper!” Sparks called out loudly when he reached the radio shack.**

**  
**

**Lee smiled.Everyone seemed to be talking louder since his return, too, as though the problem with his eyes was also connected to his ears.He looked over his shoulder at where he supposed Porter was.“Thanks, RJ.I really appreciate your help.”** ****

**  
**

**“No sweat, Skipper.Just call anytime you need me,” the young seaman said.**

**  
**

**“Anything from the admiral?” he asked Sparks.** ****

**  
**

**“No, sir.Not since just after he took off.I guess he and the chief are having too much fun.”**

**  
**

**“I sincerely hope so,” Lee said fervently.He wished he were up there with him.“Who’s got the conn?”** ****

**  
**

**“O’Brien.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee nodded and headed for the observation window.He’d be able to hear the Flying Sub when it returned.Greeting O'Brien, he continued onward, sitting down in the first chair he bumped into.**

**  
**

**He was awakened by a nudge on his shoulder.“Coffee?”It was Chip.** ****

**  
**

**“Did I fall asleep?” he asked, feeling a bit stuperous.He sat up a little straighter.“Yeah, I would like some, provided it’s not too hot.”** ****

**  
**

**The XO’s voice sounded incredulous.“You, coffee, too hot?”Then he said, “Oh, sorry.”** ****

**  
**

**“No, don’t worry about it,” Lee said, reaching out.Morton placed the cup in his bandaged hand and didn’t let go until he knew Lee had a firm enough grip.“Uh, Chip, I was way out of line up there.I’m sorry.”He heard the XO sitting down beside him.The chair squeaking slightly as his friend turned to face him.“It’s just that, well….”** ****

**  
**

**“It’s so damned frustrating,” Chip finished for him.“I know, Lee.”His voice was low, filled with understanding.“And you’re such a wonderfully patient patient, too,” he added dryly.** ****

**  
**

**Crane almost choked on his coffee.Chip was right.Then he thought of something else.** ****

**  
**

**Lee nodded.“Any word from the admiral?”** ****

**  
**

**“Yes, he’s coming back in.He said something about a few minor adjustments and then he would take her out again on a longer flight.”** ****

**  
**

**The vibration of the hull doors opening told them that the Flying Sub was returning, even as Chip was speaking.The beat of the Flying Sub’s engines told Lee exactly where the craft was and what it was doing.A short time later, an extremely exuberant admiral and excited Chief Sharkey joined them on the observation area.“You can’t imagine what it’s like, Lee!” Nelson exclaimed.“We hit the exosphere in only a few minutes.Can you believe that?It was incredible!Mendez had it right on the mark.”There was a short silence.“Thank you, Lee.Heaven only knows how long it would have taken for me to figure it out on my own.**

**  
**

**Lee nodded, not knowing what to say.Personally, he felt that the admiral would have figured it out on his own and it wouldn’t have been that long a time, either.“So when do we go to Hikeru?”** ****

**  
**

**There was a long hesitation.“The CMO isn’t sure it’s a good idea for you to go, Lee.”** ****

**  
**

**Crane was speechless for exactly five seconds.That was how long it took for the shock to wear off and the anger to rise out again.He held out the cup.“Chip?Would you take this, please?It’s cold.”Then he got up and approached the clear hull plates, his fingers outstretched.When he had reached them, he continued to face the sea as he spoke.“It took me most of the past day and a half to decide why I should go, because frankly, I was scared spitless at the thought of stepping foot on that island again.But I decided to go for the simple reason that I can’t stay here—waiting, asking crewmen to help me avoid killing myself if I miscalculate a foot or two.Or to shave me or to help me dress.Admiral, if there is a chance that the remedy for this is on that island, I want to be there.I wish to hell I could see Mendon’s face when he sees me and realizes that he didn’t take me down like he wanted to.Just being there will be enough.”Lee had kept control this time, but he still heard a trembling in his voice.It was very quiet in the entirety of the control room.**

**  
**

**“I’ll talk to Doc again,” Nelson said softly from his site.**

**  
**

**Lee nodded.“Thanks.And be aware, A’ona Matua has declared her intentions to go to Hikeru as well.”** ****

**  
**

**“What?” Nelson asked, incredulous.**

**  
**

**“She said something about it being her right or some such thing.La’ani, too.”** ****

**  
**

**The admiral gave a lusty sigh.“This is when I wished I hadn’t let Doc talk me into declaring the boat smoke free.I need a cigarette.”**

**  
**

**Crane laughed softly.** ****

**  
**

**“I should have known something was up when I was told they hadn’t disembarked with the men,” Nelson said.“Well, as much as I don’t like having civilians on board the Flying Sub with the new propulsion system, it has passed all its initial tests.Let me think about it.”**

**“When do we leave?” Lee asked.**

**  
**

**“As soon as I calm Dr. Jamieson down, refuel the Flying Sub and grab a cup of coffee,” the admiral said in mock exasperation.**

**  
**

**“And both of you get a bite to eat,” the XO reminded them.**

**  
**

**Lee nodded, resisting the urge to say ‘yes, mommy.’** ****

**  
**

**Five hours later, they were strapped in their seats.The admiral did all of the safety checks while Sharkey assisted.Lee sat in one of the fold-down chairs, with Doc sitting opposite him in another one.The two women sat directly behind the admiral and the COB.**

**  
**

**“Initiate launch,” Nelson said and the Flying Sub bay doors opened.“Disengage,” he said next and the sharp thump of release above them signaled their freedom.The admiral eased the craft out of its cradle and into the ocean.The engines whined as they powered up and Lee felt a strong surge as the Flying Sub sped toward her take-off.He felt more power than he was used to and she broke surface more quickly, skipping only once, and then shooting into the air as though catapulted.He felt the g-forces increase rapidly and then they leveled off.**

**  
**

**“We are in the upper atmosphere,” the admiral said, in his best instructional voice.He continued to describe the trip periodically.**

**  
**

**Lee figured it was more for his own benefit rather than anyone else’s.“Admiral,” he finally asked.“Exactly what was Mendez’s contribution?I know you said it was something to do with protecting the vessel from the forces of such increased speed, but that’s all I remember.”Crane had been curious about that since before the information had been extracted from his mind.** ****

**  
** **Prandjit had been there and had set up the machine.   
Although he wasn’t sedated this time, Lee was given something  
that was similar to twilight sleep.He had been relaxed, so much so, that he had dozed during the  
procedure and therefore had absolutely no idea what he had been guarding  
subconsciously all this time.**

**“The propulsion unit was essentially completed, Lee,” the admiral began.“The problem was that the excessive forces inherent with such higher speeds play hell with any materials normally used for transportation except for spacecraft.The vehicle would be torn apart after only a few flights.That problem more or less made the drive useless.”** ****

**  
**

**“Admiral?” Lee interrupted.“Did you come up with this new drive?”** ****

**  
**

**There was a long pause.“I came up with the initial idea.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee nodded.It was just as he had thought.“And Mendez came up with the means to feasibly use the invention.Something to buffer the friction.”** ****

**  
**

**There was another silence.“Were you awake during the information extraction?” the admiral asked.**

**  
**

**“Might have been subliminally awake.Why?”** ****

**  
**

**“Because you just gave a crude definition to what Mendez proposed.The same nuclear/ion drive that we developed is also being used as a means to buffer the vehicle against the atmospheric forces.Somewhat like a very thin force field.”** ****

**  
**

**“A force field?” Lee asked.“That creates another set of possibilities as well.”** ****

**  
**

**“Indeed it does, Lee.”There was a silence for a short while and then the admiral began his decent.**

**  
**

**The flight was astonishingly short, Lee thought.**

**  
**

**“Doing a fly-by at regular speed,” Nelson announced.“Check for hostile action, Chief.”** ****

**  
**

**“Aye, sir.”** ****

**  
**

**Lee felt the craft bank port and then make a sweeping circle.The sharp realization came to him that he had never actually seen this mountain island.He had come in drugged and left mostly blind.He only had La’ani’s brief descriptions to go by.A’ona Matua said something.It sounded ominous.Then she began a short sing-song chant.** ****

**  
**

**“There is death here,” La’ani translated.**


	24. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 23**

**  
**

**  
**

**After A’ona Matua’s announcement, there was several moments’ silence.**

**  
**

**Lee sincerely hoped that the death the woman was talking about wasn’t any of the villagers.“Admiral, there’s a mountain side house not far from the harbor—the compound.Any lights or activity?” Lee asked.**

**  
**

**“No.Only fires near the same area where you signaled us, Lee,” the admiral replied.**

**  
**

**A’ona Matua said something else.**

**  
**

**“They are fires of victory,” La’ani declared.** ****

**  
**

**“Victory?” Nelson repeated.“Over what?”Then he stopped and continued in a slightly puzzled voice.He glanced back at A’ona Matua and La’ani.“Friendly?”Both women nodded.**

**  
**

**Lee blanched.“Dr. Mendon has gone.”How he knew, he couldn’t tell, only that it was so.The death?Bomar’s?Again, he didn’t know, only suspected but he suspected that his guesses were right.His voice was devoid of any emotion, but he still felt dread.Could the scientist have perfected his contagion by now?“Any sign of the jet, Chief?Mine fields?”**

**  
**

**Sharkey grunted an acknowledgement of the question and Lee waited.Finally, “Not getting any readings on any kind of large equipment or ordinance, Skipper, but with the vegetation apparently right up to the runway, it’s hard to tell for sure.No activated minefields.”**

**  
**

**Lee said nothing.**

**  
**

**“I’m landing.We’ll find out what’s going on better from the ground,” the admiral declared after a moment’s silence.**

**  
**

**The Flying Sub came in steeply and then leveled out just before it hit the ocean a half-mile or so beyond the reef, Lee guessed.They skimmed below the surface through the break in the reef and then coasted onto the beach above the water line.Nelson cut the engines and they waited.**

**  
**

**Finally, A’ona Matua spoke.“I want to walk on the soil of my own land,” La’ani translated.**

**  
**

**“Wait until we reconnoiter,” the admiral said, his voice sounding wary and concerned.** ****

**  
**

**Lee smiled softly. Despite her protestations to him before, the old woman had missed this twenty square miles she called home.He unbuckled his seat belt and stood up.“Admiral, I believe it’s more than safe for her.If they don’t respect her, they certainly respect her position.”The old woman said something and then took his arm.They walked to the rear hatch.**

**  
**

**“I think that’s self-explanatory, Lee,” La’ani said with a soft laugh.**

**  
**

**Nelson sighed.“Go ahead, then, if you are sure.Chief.”**

**  
**

**Sharkey opened the hatch.“Wait a moment, ma’am,” he said to A’ona Matua.He touched Crane on the arm and the captain stepped onto the wet sand.He heard the surf booming against the reef and breaking more sedately against the rocks along the beach.He held his arm out for the old Polynesian woman and she stepped out.The murmur of her name told him that there was at least a small group nearby waiting for her.La’ani quickly joined them and the murmuring grew louder. With A’ona Matua’s guidance they walked toward the waiting group. Lee heard the other three men following them.**

**  
**

**There was a quick conversation between the Hikeruans and then La’ani spoke.“Bomar, the leader, is dead.It is believed the evil one did it. After we left, the guards heard gunshots from the leader’s house and they checked.It was then they found Bomar dead and the evil one gone on the small jet,” she told the men from the sub.A’ona Matua spoke to the Polynesians waiting on the beach and they murmured among themselves.La’ani offered no translation this time.**

**  
**

**There was more talk in the Polynesian language.Finally one of the men spoke up.Lee thought he recognized the voice.“The evil one left on the jet with Na’alu,” Teva said.“Na’alu had told us that the leader had demanded revenge against those who dared to invade our island.He named someone called Admiral Nelson.”The name was slightly convoluted by the parameters of their own language, but Lee and the rest knew to whom they were referring.“And he named the ship called _Seaview,_ the one that took away some of our people_._”**

**  
**

**La’ani said something to them, and then translated, “I told them that Na’alu was wrong.The submarine saved our countrymen as well as A’ona Matua and myself.However, they had figured that out for themselves and disabled the minefield near the reef.They have chosen to get rid of everything that the evil ones brought to our island.”**

**  
**

**“I wondered about that,” the admiral said thoughtfully.“That was quite a feat, to not only disable, but to get rid of them.”**

**  
**

**“Teva and his men have watched the leader’s actions for a long time and were able to do the job when it was necessary.In fact, some of the men had been trained to use the computers that controlled the weapons and had even installed the few weapons that Bomar had collected.”She paused.“They only finished the minefield just before we arrived.They had the fires on the beach to celebrate their victory in ridding the island of the things of the popoa’a.”**

**  
**

**“Popoa’a?” Lee asked.**

**  
**

**“Foreigners,” La’ani said softly.“Those who are left here are wanting to rid Hikeru of all that the leader and the evil one brought.And they wish for no more popoa’a on our island.”**

**  
**

**“Where does that leave us?” Nelson asked.**

**  
**

**La’ani smiled.The firelight softened her features.“You are the exceptions.After what A’ona Matua has told them, you will always be welcome.**

**  
**

**Lee acknowledged what La'ani had said with a nod, but felt his anxiety level rise as he realized that Mendon would only have left if he had the means to exact his revenge.“When did Mendon and Na’alu leave?And what time is it now?”He had lost all sense of time in the past several days.**

**  
**

**“Oh three hundred hours, Skipper,” Sharkey answered.**

**  
**

**Lee cursed under his breath.**

**  
**

**“That means you men deactivated those mines in less than six hours!” the admiral said, incredulous.**

**  
**

**Lee heard several of the men laughing.Then one answered.“After we found the dead leader, we had to prepare for the return of our next leader, the queen, to whom the rule of our island belonged all along since the death of our former queen.”**

**  
**

**Even though still thinking about Mendon, the captain caught the last comment.The admiral asked before he could say anything, though.**

**  
**

**“Queen?” Nelson asked.**

**  
**

**“La’ani?” Lee ventured, surprised, but not all that surprised.**

**  
**

**When La’ani spoke, her voice was soft.“Yes, the queen who married Bomar was my grandmother’s eldest daughter. My father was her younger brother.I am his eldest child.”**

**  
**

**“You have your work cut out for you, but congratulations,” the admiral told her.** ****

**  
**

**Lee echoed the sentiment, but added, “This isn’t over with yet.”** ****

**  
**

**“I agree,” La’ani said.“Great evil has left our island, but it reaches to others.We cannot allow that.”**

**  
**

**“Did Mendon tell anyone his plans before he left?” Admiral Nelson asked.** ****

**  
**

**“That one didn’t say much more to any of us except to order us to do his bidding.The leader wasn’t much better,” one of the men said.**

**  
**

**“He said something about an airport,” someone else said.** ****

**  
**

**“Wouldn’t it make sense that Mendon would want to release his virus at a major metropolitan airport?” Lee asked.“Probably close to the Institute.”LAX, he was thinking as the most likely spot.**

**  
**

**“Yes,” Nelson mused.“And that little jet wouldn’t have the range to go all the way from here.He would have to refuel in Tahiti, most likely, or perhaps Hawaii.”**

**  
**

**“Or take a commercial jet,” Jamieson interrupted.** ****

**  
**

**Lee heard a short, surprised intake of breath.“You’re right!” the admiral cried.“What better way?You could easily hide something of that nature and if all else failed, release it on the plane.”**

**  
**

**It was a morbid thought, but a perfectly feasible one, Lee thought.“And he took Na’alu with him.Two chances.We’ve got to find them . . . and quickly.”**

**  
**

**“Lee, while the Chief and I contact the Tahiti Airport Authority, you and Doc see if you can find anything in the laboratory,” Nelson said.** ****

**  
**

**For a quick second, Lee Crane felt a clutch of dread, but he squelched it and nodded.“La’ani?”**

**  
**

**“Yes?”** ****

**  
**

**“The doctor isn’t familiar with the prison and I am under a bit of restriction.…”** ****

**  
**

**“I must take care of things with A’ona Matua before it is time for us to leave, Lee, or I would come with you.”** ****

**  
**

**“Us?” Lee stammered.** ****

**  
**

**“Of course.One of my countrymen has been led down a path of destruction and I plan on stopping him if I can,” La’ani said.There was an increased confidence and authority in her voice.It became her well.“Teva and Ra’oana will accompany you and Dr. Jamieson,” she added.**

**  
**

**“Teva?” Lee frowned, remembering his days as a prisoner under the care of Na’alu, Teva and the other guards. **

**  
**

**“Lee, Teva was not happy with what he had to do, especially more recently,” La’ani said softly.**

**She was standing near him and he not only felt the warmth of her voice, but also the warmth of her body.Lee nodded.Doc took his arm and the small group walked the narrow path that led to the storage area under the mountain.Although he couldn’t see anything, Lee could still feel a chill as they entered the complex.Jamieson led him with sure steps, but Lee pretty much knew the way.It was burned into his mind.“To the right, Doc.This corridor leads to the laboratory.”They crossed the threshold into the large room of his torture and he stopped short.**

**  
**

**“You all right, Lee?” Doc asked.**

**  
**

**“Yeah,” he said, but he had to struggle to keep the quaver out of his voice.“Welcome to Doctor Frankenstein’s lab,” he added acerbically.He pointed in the direction that he hoped were the cabinets where Mendon had been keeping his experimental drugs and antidotes.**

**  
**

**“I’m going to take anything that I think would even remotely prove helpful,” Doc said.“Teva, help me put these things in this case, please.Ra’oana, would you look around and see if there is anything else that might be helpful.Notes, vials like these, anything.”**

**  
**

**Without saying anything, the Polynesians moved around the room.Lee heard drawers opening and closing, papers rustling, feet padding on the hard floor.He stood there picturing the past, trying to come to terms with it.So intent was he, that Lee didn’t hear the approach of anyone.A hand touched him on the shoulder and he jumped.**

**  
**

**“You okay, Captain,” Doc asked.** ****

**  
**

**“Yeah, I think so,” he said softly.“Hard to believe I was only in here for two weeks.”**

**  
**

**“Some moments in time have much more impact than others,” Jamieson said philosophically, then he added fervently, “Lee, you’ll get over this.It will just take a little time.”**

**  
**

**“Did you find anything?” the captain asked, purposefully ignoring the doctor’s encouragement.**

**  
**

**“I think so, especially some notes that might very well have bearing on what he put in your eyes.I’m going to pack it all up and then we can check out Mendon’s personal quarters.”**

**  
**

**Lee could think of nothing to say.The scents and sounds of this place were assailing him and his mind was supplying the memories, real and imagined.Sometimes it had been hard to differentiate the two.**

**  
**

**“Captain Crane!Lee!” a voice kept calling over and over.The tenuous line to horror, the silken cord that bound him to Mendon, broke, at least for now and Lee shook his head, clearing away the last vestiges of fear.“Lee!” Jamie shouted, almost in his ear.**

**  
**

**The doctor had a tight grip on his shoulder and Lee was surprised to find himself sitting down on a straight-backed chair.He had not remembered moving.“I’m all right,” he said softly.**

**  
**

**“I needed your help, but I was afraid this was too much for you,” the CMO said angrily.**

**  
**

**Lee knew that Doc was angry with himself rather than at his patient.“I’m all right, Jamie.Just a flashback.That’s all.”He could hear the doctor fuming.**

**  
**

**Finally, Jamie checked his pulse and then sighed.“Well, I’m done in here.Ra’oana, where is Dr. Mendon’s living quarters?”**

**“Up in the leader’s house,” the Polynesian replied.**

**  
**

**“Captain, I want you to go back to the village with Teva,” Doc said. “I’m going to see if Mendon left anything in his room.It shouldn’t take long.”**

**  
**

**“But….”** ****

**  
**

**“No, this time follow my orders and get the hell out of here,” Jamieson said.** ****

**  
**

**Secretly Lee was relieved.The young Polynesian led him back to the village.Lee sat by a fire, feeling the warmth on his face, listening to the banter and songs of the young men.Occasionally one of them tried to engage him in conversation in English, but Lee had very little to say.Eventually, he was left to his own thoughts and his fatigue.He leaned back, feeling the sand for any surprises, then laid down.**

**  
**

**He saw a jet.It was a commercial airliner, TWA, the logo on the tail declared, flying into LA Ex.It landed, sat on the tarmac for a while and then the passengers disembarked down stairs that had been slowly rolled out.The passengers coming down the stairs were skeletons, walking with briefcases and purses in their bony hands.Joints creaked and clacked together.They chatted as though nothing was wrong, but as they passed people on the tarmac, each normal person fell to the ground and then became a skeleton as well.Lee woke up with a gasp and sat up.“Admiral!Where’s the admiral?” he called out.**


	25. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 24**

**  
**

**  
**

**“I’m here, Lee,” the admiral assured him.“I’m right here.”**

**  
**

**Gasping, Lee struggled to get breath enough to speak.He felt he was suffocating.“LA-X,” he finally got out.**

**  
**

**“LA-X?” Nelson asked?“What about it, Lee?”**

**  
**

**“They’re going to LA-X,” Lee said.Someone placed a glass in his hand and he eagerly took it.Some kind of juice, but it still served to clear his head.**

**  
**

**“Was this in your dream, Lee?” La’ani asked.** ****

**  
**

**“Dream?” Crane asked.“Was I asleep?”He shook his head.“Maybe it was, but whatever it was, I believe . . . uh….”He paused, feeling that his impression wasn’t just based on a dream, but something certain and real.He was seeing the future if they didn’t do something to stop it.“Mendon and Na’alu are on their way to Los Angeles,” he said decisively.“They are carrying an agent that is . . . worse than what I had,” he finished, almost in a whisper.**

**  
**

**========================================**

**  
**

**Doc gazed around him.While little had been left in the scientist’s room, enough to get a clear picture had.The books on the small shelf, the WWII momentos.Jamieson shook his head.The captain had only scratched the surface when he had mentioned Mendon’s fascination with Josef Mengele.Mendon had actually visited and studied under him in South America.Jamie gathered what was left that he felt would help.He went through the small desk and found, like in the lab, one that was locked.The CMO pulled out a special tool that had come in handy at times and worked it in the slot.This one was stubborn and he bit his lower lip as he continued.**

**  
**

**Finally there was a gratifying click and the doctor carefully pulled the drawer open.While there seemed nothing subtle and overly paranoid about Mendon, Doc knew that the man had not gotten where he was by carelessness.Nothing happened and Jamie looked further.There were a few notes, several small vials, a book and a box of tapes.He pulled all out and placed them in a satchel.One last, careful look had him on his feet and halfway to the door before he could draw another breath.“Out!” he shouted to Ra’oana.“Hurry!He’s booby trapped the place!”He started toward the elevator, but stopped short.Not a good place to be trapped in.“Where’s another way out?”**

**  
**

**Ra’oana pointed and sprinted toward the veranda.He grabbed for the larger satchel from Doc and continued running.As the Polynesian bolted out a door that led to a mountainside garden, a cracking booming explosion split the soft peacefulness of the predawn.The house behind them exploded in a monstrous conflagration and Jamie had to struggle to stay on his feet as the ground heaved and shuddered.Heat beat against his back and propelled him forward.Ra’oana seemed to have sure knowledge of the path, but he slowed by unfamiliarity as they got further and further away from the burning house.**

**  
**

**Ra’oana was soon out of sight and afraid he would become lost, Doc called out.The Polynesian returned, apologetic.As they made their way down the mountain path, several villagers, as well as the admiral, met them on the path.**

**  
**

**Nelson’s look of abject worry changed to relief.“What happened?”**

**  
**

**“A very clever booby trap,” Doc said.“It was as though Mendon knew we were coming and what we would do once we got here.Everything went fine down in the lab, but the bomb was rigged to a locked drawer.I just happened to be at an angle or I wouldn’t have seen anything except the outside of the pearly gates.”**

**  
**

**“Well it almost took authority that high up to find out anything from the Tahitian airport.It seems that one of them, Na’alu by the description, flew out on a flight to LA.I was given a choice since there were two outbound flights—TWA or Pan Am.Captain Crane seems to think it’s the TWA flight.I alerted the authorities in Los Angeles to hold both.”**

**  
**

**“But how long will Mendon’s bodyguard wait before unleashing that stuff?” Doc asked as they returned to the beach.** ****

**  
**

**“Hopefully we won’t find out.We should get in at the same time or even before, if we can leave soon,” Nelson said.**

**  
**

**As they continued down the path, Jamie’s curiosity got the better of him.“Why does the captain think it would be TWA?”**

**  
**

**The admiral hesitated.“He said he saw it in a dream.”**

**  
**

**“Since when has he been clairvoyant?” Doc asked.** ****

**  
**

**Nelson sighed.“I don’t know, Jamie.Seems since he got back, or rather since Mendon did his number on him.He told me the night he came to my cabin that he had dreamed that Mendez was dead.”The admiral paused.“And no one had given him that information.”**

**  
**

**As they continued down the mountain path, Doc pondered this interesting development, concluding that it was a strange phenomenon that accompanied an equally strange ‘drug regimen.’He wouldn’t recommend either.**

**  
**

**They quickly returned to the Flying Sub.A’ona Matua was there.She turned to Crane, who had been waiting by the small craft, leaning against it casually, although Jamieson knew it was simply a prop of familiarity in a world of darkness.The old woman spoke to him, but before any translation was made, the captain leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, murmuring something Doc couldn’t hear.**

**  
**

**Then Lee stepped on board the small craft, and the rest of them followed him.He sat where A’ona Matua had been sitting, since she wasn’t coming with them.The admiral entered, followed by La’ani and Chief Sharkey.Jamieson entered last, pulling the hatch shut behind him and dogging it fast.**

**  
**

**“If all goes well, we should be in Los Angeles in about three hours,” Nelson said.**

**  
**

**“How are you feeling now, Captain,” Doc asked.**

**  
**

**Crane shrugged.“All right.”**

**  
**

**Jamieson smiled. Not much different than what he expected.“Well, before we take off, I’m going to check you out.”Lee stiffened, but said nothing.As he was checking the captain’s blood pressure, Doc said softly, “I may have found something among Mendon’s things that will help you.I didn’t get a good chance to check closely since we had to get the hell out of Dodge, but I saw some notes that make me feel very optimistic.”If Doc thought he was going to get a reaction from Crane, he was sadly mistaken.Lee just sat calmly and let Jamieson check him over.When he was done, he sighed.“You’re none the less for wear, Lee.Try to get some rest during the flight.”**

**  
**

**“Sure, Doc,” Crane finally said, tonelessly.** ****

**  
**

**Jamieson said nothing more, but sat down and strapped himself in.It was quiet as the admiral checked the systems and then began the sequence that would bring the Flying Sub to life.In the darkness outside, Doc could only imagine all sorts of strange things, so he kept his eyes on the instrumentation even as the craft’s engines powered and then took them out into the ocean.Several skips over the water and they were airborne, soaring at a steep angle that made the CMO’s stomach lurch.**

**  
**

**When they were at a safe level, the admiral set the autopilot and swiveled to face Crane.He reached over and touched the young captain’s knee.Lee started.“Sorry, Lee.I don’t want to keep the auto on too long, but there are a couple of things that need to be taken care of.LA-X requested a description of Mendon since he has remained elusive and there are no photos available.I’ll get them on the radio as soon as we’re finished talking.”Lee nodded.“The Air Tahiti flight from Papeete left yesterday afternoon at seven.There is a changeover at Honolulu and they are continuing to Los Angeles.Two tickets were purchased in Papeete for both of them, but LA-X is going to check all incoming from Honolulu passengers in case Mendon switched planes.”Nelson paused.“The flight, as arranged, will arrive in Los Angeles at one p.m. Pacific time.We should get there before that.”**

**  
**

**Crane frowned.“Wish they could have been caught in Hawaii.”**

**  
**

**“I know.The call went in too late to stop anyone there, but one of the ticket agents there remembered seeing a very large Polynesian looking extremely uncomfortable in Western clothing boarding the LA flight.”**

**  
**

**“Mendon will try for Santa Barbara,” Lee said, his voice wooden.“He’ll be disguised.”**

**  
**

**Nelson smiled.“But he made one very large mistake, Lee.”**

**  
**

**“What?”** ****

**  
**

**“He underestimated your resolve . . . and your dedication to duty,” the admiral said softly.He turned back to the controls and put the Flying Sub back on manual.He then contacted the Los Angeles airport where agents had already set up operations.Lee gave them all the information he could and then sat back.It was clear to Jamie that Crane was not totally satisfied, but since there was nothing else to be done….The admiral gave a short report and then cut the transmission.**

**  
**

**“In the couple of hours it will take us to get there, relax and have something to eat.It seems that La’ani’s people sent us with a South Seas picnic basket,” Nelson said.**

**  
**

**La’ani laughed softly and handed out packets of food to everyone.She gave Lee the last packet and Doc was surprised when her hands lingered on his for several seconds longer than necessity dictated.There was something in her eyes that was distinctly more than friendly. **

**  
**

**Lee was already familiar with the food, Jamieson noticed, so he didn’t offer assistance.All too soon the captain relaxed in his seat and fell asleep.Doc wished he had insisted on at least one more days’ intravenous regimen.Hopefully all of this would be resolved quickly and he could get Lee to the Institute hospital where he could get some really good R & R.**

**  
**

**The sun had risen shortly after take-off and due to their easterly course, seemed to travel in the sky a bit more quickly than normal.It was an interesting phenomenon that he would have liked discussing with the admiral, but he didn’t want to awaken Crane.It seemed that no one else did either, as it had grown very quiet in the Flying Sub.**

**  
**

**Doc noticed that the girl had dozed off as well and wondered what kind of power this woman had over the admiral to allow her to even set foot on the Flying Sub in its experimental state, much less make a long trip like this.He was still pondering as he closed his eyes and dozed.**

**  
**

**Harriman was extremely pleased.So far everything had been going smoothly.That was not to say that he had a perfected, totally fuel-efficient system, but it was working and it was working safely.Behind him, he heard Lee murmuring in his sleep, but it was unintelligible.Harriman checked all of the instruments and frowned.He definitely had to work on the fuel consumption problem.That was the main flaw of this new system.It was not fuel efficient, in fact it used fuel at a prodigious rate.He would have to revert to the regular engine system in a short while if they were planning on making it to Los Angeles at all.It would put their timetable back, but only a short while.They were already less than an hour from the California coastline.**

**  
**

**Nelson continued to watch the fuel consumption and then leaned forward and switched off the ion drive.The momentum of the Flying Sub caused almost no discernable change in the forward progress, the regular engines also being very smooth and efficient.However, Harriman was very surprised when he heard Lee’s voice behind him.**

**  
**

**“What happened?”** ****

**  
**

**“I thought you were asleep,” Harriman replied.**

**  
**

**Lee snorted.“I was, but the change in engine noise woke me.What happened?” he repeated.**

**  
**

**“The ion drive has incredible power, but it takes incredible resources to run it.I had to switch back to the regular propulsion system before we ran out of fuel.”**

**  
**

**“How much does that delay us?”** ****

**  
**

**The admiral looked at the instruments again.“Negligible.We are about to begin our descent anyway.Maybe fifteen minutes lost at the most.”**

**  
**

**The radio came to life, demanding attention.** ****

**  
**

**“Lee, I’m busy here.I’m switching the mike to you.Would you deal with air traffic control?”**

**  
**

****

**  
**

**“Aye, sir.”Lee fumbled with his throat mike for a moment, then gave the recognition response. “LA-X, this is FS-1 on final approach.Please send approach vectors and runway and gate.”**

**  
**

**“Zero one-one-niner.Acknowledge, FS-1,” air control replied.**

**  
**

**Lee repeated the directions and the admiral made the course corrections.“Ten-four, control.Corrections made.What runway?”**

**  
**

**“Flying Sub, TWA flight one-four-three already on the ground and quarantined,” control told him.Lee pressed his lips together and then repeated the message to the admiral.“Are you in negotiations?” he asked control.There was a long pause.“Negative.Terrorist will not speak to anyone.We are preparing to storm the plane.”**

**  
**

**Before Lee could say anything, the admiral spoke into his own mike, giving credence to the captain’s suspicions that Admiral Nelson had only been trying to include him in what was going on.“No!You can’t storm the plane now.One of his countrymen is with us.”**

**  
**

**“He wants to speak only to his country’s leader,” the voice from the tower said.**

**  
**

**Lee took a deep breath.“He’s frightened.This is his first time away from his island and I don’t think he realizes the totality of what he’s carrying.”**

**  
**

**“This isn’t some grade school field trip, Flying Sub One.This is a deadly contagion he’s carrying.We have to contain it!” a different voice snapped.**

**  
**

**“This is Captain Lee Crane.I know perfectly well what the hell he’s carrying.I was the guinea pig for it.I also know the courier and think this can be resolved and not just contained.”**

**  
**

**There was a brief silence and then the sound of muted voices, as though a hand had covered the mike.** ****

**  
**

**“Captain, what do you propose?”** ****

**  
**

**“Tell Na’alu that his leader is coming.Allow us to land near the quarantined jet.”**

**  
**

**The other voice coughed slightly and then said caustically.“Do you have some notion what this idiot might do when he finds out he’s been lied to?”**

**  
**

**Crane almost ground his teeth together in his frustration.He felt a light touch on his arm.La’ani.“Control, I am not lying.His leader is here.”**

**  
**

**“What?”Another pause.“Admiral Nelson, are you still listening?”**

**  
**

**Harriman cleared his throat.“Yes, I am.Were you questioning the veracity of my captain’s information?”**

**  
**

**“Uh, no sir, but I wouldn’t mind knowing how you pulled that one off.”** ****

**  
**

**“Law of succession on the island of Hikeru,” Nelson said.“The former leader is dead and we have the new leader with us.”**

**  
**

**“Just don’t tell Na’alu that part,” interjected Lee.** ****

**  
**

**There was a sigh from the voice on the other end.Lee could only assume that it was a federal agent.A controller came on and gave them new landing instructions.Within minutes, the admiral had brought the Flying Sub down on the runway and taxied near the large commercial jet liner.**


	26. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 25**

**  
**

**  
**

**They only had to wait a moment before the agent contacted them again.“The stewardess said that . . . what did you say his name was?”**

**  
**

**“Na’alu,” Lee said.** ****

**  
**

**“Yeah, anyway, he agreed to let the leader come on board--alone.”** ****

**  
**

**“Negative,” Lee immediately shot back.“He knows me.I’m coming, too.”**

**  
**

**“Now wait a minute!” the admiral and Doc said at the same time.** ****

**  
**

**“Lee, please have the person you are talking to tell Na’alu that the leader must be escorted,” La’ani said.** ****

**  
**

**“Escorted?” Crane asked, but he began talking to the tower again.“His leader says to convey to Na’alu that there must be an escort of at least one person.That is the only way the leader will come aboard.”**

**  
**

**“Captain, don’t you think you need to get some input on this decision?” Nelson asked him caustically.**

**  
**

**“Sorry, Admiral,” Lee said, but he was listening more intently to the voice from the tower.**

**  
**

**“He said that would be agreeable,” the agent told them.“Only no weapons.”**

**  
**

**“Don’t have to worry about that,” Lee muttered under his breath, turning off his mike.He heard the admiral doing the same.**

**  
**

**“Lee, I am not in favor of this.I feel that I should be the one to escort La’ani,” Nelson said.**

**  
**

**“That isn’t possible, Admiral Nelson,” La’ani pointed out.“The only thing Na’alu knows about you is what Mendon and the leader Bomar have told him.”**

**  
**

**The admiral groaned softly.“Just don’t take any chances.”Then he paused and sighed in exasperation.“Well, just a bit too late for that,” he muttered.“All I ask is if the situation gets dicey, get the hell out of there,” he finally said.**

**  
**

**Sharkey, who had been totally silent throughout the exchange, got up and undogged the hatch.Lee unbuckled his seat belt and stood up.He slowly walked to and then stepped through the hatch.La’ani followed and then took his arm in hers.**

**  
**

**“Good luck, Skipper; Miss La’ani,” Sharkey said from the doorway.**

**  
**

**“Lee,” the admiral said, laying his hand on the captain’s shoulder.Crane turned toward him.“I still don’t like this.I mean….”**

**  
**

**Lee smiled softly.“Admiral, I appreciate your concern, but it has to be me.Na’alu knows me and I think Mendon has used him.I don’t think he’s really a devious person, or a truly evil person, unlike his bosses.”Now Lee paused, remembering his dream.“And if this prevents just one person dying….”**

**  
**

**The admiral took a deep breath.“I know.Good luck and be careful.”**

**  
**

**La’ani’s arm was holding Lee’s now as though he was escorting her to the prom.Nodding appreciatively, the captain turned back toward the jet and they began their journey.**

**“There is something else you need to know about Na’alu,” La’ani said softly, as they walked toward the stairs leading up into the jetliner.It was apparent by her proximity that she was in her native dress, the long sarong-like lava-lava.**

**  
**

**“Besides the fact that he is technically a terrorist?” Lee interjected.** ****

**  
**

**“Yes.He doesn’t think the way we do.He’s….”**

**  
**

**“Slow?” Lee ventured.His thoughts had come a long way since the days of his captivity and pain.He had come to this conclusion when he had been able to think straight on the _Seaview. _“As in mildly retarded?”**

**  
**

**“You knew?”** ****

**  
**

**“Guessed.I was too angry and sick to think of it while I was on Hikeru, but was able to see it later.”**

**  
**

**“Yes, he is.He was totally devoted to my aunt, who was devoted to her husband, Bomar,” La’ani explained.**

**  
**

**“And Na’alu continued his over-faithful service after the queen died,” Lee finished.**

**  
**

**“Yes.”** ****

**  
**

**“But why would he take orders from Mendon?” Lee asked.**

**  
**

**“If Mendon told him the leader wanted it, he would most likely believe him,” La’ani pointed out.**

**  
**

**“Yeah, exactly,” Lee said.“Someone mentioned that on the beach, didn’t they?”His mind felt mired in sand.No morning coffee, jet lag._Get a grip, Crane! _he admonished himself.His thinking had to focus.**

**  
**

**“Stairs, Lee,” La’ani warned him.** ****

**  
**

**This was it, he thought as his toe touched the first step.The climb seemed interminable and by the time they were halfway up, he was already breathing heavily.Whether from exhaustion or fear, he didn’t know, but Lee realized that he had to put all of that out of his mind.He needed to focus only on the task ahead.They finally reached the top of the stairs.La’ani entered the aft hatch first, Lee right behind her.**

**  
**

**“You are the negotiating team we were promised?” a woman’s voice asked with a sarcastic snort.**

**  
**

**“You are the stewardess?” Lee returned, his voice low.He chose to ignore the sarcasm in her voice.**

**  
**

**“Yes. Vickie Bordeaux,” she said.“I hope you two weren’t planning on playing on his sympathies, or just playing around, period.There are over a hundred and fifty people on this plane and if that man is carrying what we’ve been told he’s carrying, then….”**

**  
**

**“I am Captain Lee Crane.This is La’ani Rana’oanui, the new queen of Hikeru, the same place the hijacker is from.And believe me, we aren’t playing games,” Lee told her tersely.“Now we need to go forward and see if we can resolve this situation.”**

**  
**

**They had not gone more than a few feet when Na’alu began shouting in his own language.** ****

**  
**

**“Let me speak to him and try to calm him, Lee,” La’ani said over her shoulder.**

**  
**

**He had no argument.They moved slowly forward, his hand on her shoulder even as she spoke to Na’alu in the Polynesian language that had developed on the island of their birth.Lee heard the mutterings and murmurs of fear and annoyance even as he tried to understand the tenor of Na’alu’s voice.The Polynesian continued to sound angry and disbelieving.La’ani stopped walking and so did Lee.Suddenly there was silence.Lee wasn’t sure what was going on, but the lack of dialogue made him apprehensive.“Na’alu, whether you believe Queen La’ani or not, I would like you to listen to what I have to say, weigh my words in your mind and then decide what you want to do,” he began.La’ani stayed quiet, only moving so that she was behind him in the narrow aisle, her hand on his arm.**

**  
**

**“The leader said you came to kill him,” Na’alu growled ominously.**

**  
**

**“Think about it, Na’alu.If I came to your island on my own, where was my boat?Where was my plane?”There was silence and Lee continued.“I was brought to Hikeru because your leader wanted something from me.And he used Mendon to try and force it from me.”Crane felt the encouragement of La’ani’s hand squeezing lightly on his forearm so he continued.“Na’alu, it doesn’t matter if you trust me or like me.What really matters is that you saw my suffering.You saw what Mendon did to me.You saw how sick I was.Is that what you want to happen to these people?”He paused.The murmuring grew louder, the fear more palpable.His voice softened, growing huskier with emotion.“I heard babies when I boarded.I hear children and women in these seats. Do you truly want them as sick as I was?”Again he paused.**

**  
**

**“You got better.”** ****

**  
**

**“I had the antidote,” Lee said tersely.“And how much better do I look for it,” he added, still trying to catch his breath from the climb.Now was the time that he hoped he looked as bad as Doc and the others kept telling him he still was.**

**  
**

**La’ani began speaking to Na’alu in her own language again.The Hikeruan responded.They continued for a few minutes.Lee waited, heartened by the fact that Na’alu didn’t sound as angry as he had earlier.**

**  
**

**“La’ani said you almost died,” he said to Lee.** ****

**  
**

**“I still don’t feel all that great, but yeah, I did.Don’t do this to these people.You now have a leader who cares a great deal for you.She came all the way here to save you.”He felt La’ani move in front of him again.“Mendon planned on letting you die with everyone else if you opened the case.”**

**  
**

**“No, gave me medicine to keep sickness away,” Na’alu protested.** ****

**  
**

**Lee laughed bitterly.“He didn’t have time to do more than make the contagion worse.He didn’t have time for an antidote, unless he did one just for himself.I can promise you this, Na’alu.He tricked you.He doesn’t give a damn about you, any more than he did about me or La’ani or anyone else.”There was a brief silence and then more conversation between Na’alu and La’ani.Suddenly, Lee felt a hard boxy-shaped object against his chest.**

**  
**

**“It’s the briefcase, Lee.Take it,” La’ani told him.**

**  
**

**With her help, he did just that, cradling it beneath his good arm.“Where’s Ms. Bordeaux?” he asked.**

**  
**

**“Here, Captain,” came the voice from aft.Gone was the sarcastic disbelief.**

**  
**

**“Tell the tower that the situation is under control and we are coming out.Ask that Admiral Nelson and Commander Jamieson meet us.”**

**  
**

**“Lee, you go first and let me lead Na’alu out,” La’ani said quietly, then she added.“What will they do to him?”**

**  
**

**“Let’s get out first and then we’ll negotiate that one,” Lee murmured over his shoulder.The soft muttering of passengers’ fear changed to expressions of happiness and as the stewardess directed him to the stairs, Lee heard cheers erupt behind them.He shut them out in his efforts to make it out of the plane with his deadly package intact.**

**  
**

**“My apologies for doubting,” Bordeaux said from just in front of him.“And good luck, Captain.”**

**  
**

**“Thanks,” Crane said, feeling totally drained.**

**  
**

**“You are right in front of the aft hatch, sir,” she added.** ****

**  
**

**He nodded and then stopped at the top of the stairs.He wouldn’t be able to do it**\--**descend; not hanging on to the case with his only good arm. Unable to see.“Admiral?”**

**  
**

**“Right here, Lee.”** ****

**  
**

**“Here’s the contagion.Take it, please,” Crane said.He felt the case taken from under his arm.**

**  
**

**“Jamie, get this to the Institute.I’ll be there in a little while to examine it,” the admiral instructed the CMO, who was apparently just behind him.**

**  
**

**Lee continued to stand at the top of the stairs.It was over.His knees felt shaky; he still couldn’t begin the descent.He suddenly felt a hand grip his left wrist.“Lee, let me help you down,” the admiral said, his voice low and gentle.**

**  
**

**This time there was no argument.With the admiral to steady him, Crane descended to the tarmac. “The case may have been rigged to release when it was opened.”**

**  
**

**“I’ll keep that in mind, Lee.”** ****

**  
**

**Crane heard men rushing toward the plane.“The Hikeruan can be questioned at NIMR,” Nelson declared.There was some argument.Lee assumed from FBI or similar agents.“The rest of us will be there shortly,” the admiral continued.**

**  
**

**Cars pulled up and then most of them left.“Let’s go, Lee.”The hand at his elbow was insistent, but Crane resisted.**

**  
**

**“It was too easy.”** ****

**  
**

**“What?”But Nelson stopped, too.A car engine purred next to them.**

**  
**

**“It was too damned easy!” Lee declared.“Mendon had to know Na’alu’s disposition.He had to know he’d cave to the slightest pressure.Na’alu was a diversion!Mendon came in on another flight from Honolulu.He’s in the terminal.”**

**  
**

**“The FBI is on the look-out for Mendon. We’ve done all we can do here.It’s time to go to the Institute.”**

**  
**

**“The terminal, Admiral,” Lee said quietly.It was like a chain dragging him there.Or maybe that was too harsh a term.It was something compelling him to complete this ‘mission.’“I want to go to the terminal,” he insisted.**

**  
**

**“This time I have to refuse,” Nelson said.“The terminal is being evacuated anyway.”**

**“Admiral, he’s in there somewhere.”And he knew that what he was saying was fact, not supposition or wishful thinking.It was FACT.“The devil’s in there,” he said more softly, but no less insistent.“Please.The terminal.”He felt horror creeping over him.Cold, freezing, unremitting horror.He had to go to the terminal, with or without help.Lee turned and knew he was facing his destination.He was facing death and felt like someone sleep walking toward it.**

**  
**

**“Lee,” the admiral hissed near his ear.“Let the authorities take care of it.”**

**  
**

**Crane shook off Nelson’s hand and walked around the waiting car.Another car screeched to a halt nearby.He ignored it and continued walking.**

**  
**

**Footsteps sounded behind him.“Dammit, Lee, no more.You’ve done enough,” Nelson said, his voice tight with anxiety.**

**  
**

**Lee kept walking, his steps were as though he could see clearly.The admiral walked beside him.“Doc will have my hide,” he growled, but he stayed by Lee’s side and didn’t try to stop him. By the sounds around them, Lee knew they were approaching the building.The admiral had again taken his elbow.They walked through a door and up a short flight of stairs.**

**  
**

**The noises of an almost empty terminal confused him.There were still people, but not the bustling, pushing masses that usually passed through the airport.A message crackled over the loud speaker, directing people out of the building.He wondered why that hadn’t already happened, but whatever, his mind dismissed._What am I looking for?_How did he expect to find a literal needle in a haystack—especially when he couldn’t see that needle?Lee stopped, his mind suddenly blank.He stepped from one foot to the other, angry and exasperated.Mendon was here!Lee knew he had been led here for a purpose.Why leave him dangling now?**

**  
**

**Someone bumped into him.“Oh, sorry,” a masculine voice said.“Just trying to follow the map to the car rental and wasn’t paying attention.”**

**  
**

**_Car rental?_ Lee thought.Then like a blow, it hit him.Mendon would drive to Santa Barbara, then release the contagion.He saw it clearly as though in a film on a screen.Mendon’s case contained death and he would hand deliver it to the Institute and anyone else nearby.And it would continue to spread death.**


	27. Foam on the Large Wave

**Chapter 26**

**  
**

**  
**

**“What is it?” the admiral asked, his voice filled with concern.** ****

**  
**

**“Mendon.Car rental!He’s going to drive the contagion to NIMR.”**

**  
**

**“What?”** ****

**  
**

**“Car rental, Admiral.Where’s the car rental?”His voice rose in his anxiety, but he didn’t care.**

**  
**

**“That makes perfect sense,” Nelson said and guided Lee through the airport, down to the baggage area where there were more people, although still less than normal.Apparently the entire airport was finally being evacuated.If Mendon left with the rest of the crowd, he would be free to spread his terrible destruction.**

**  
**

**Suddenly Lee stopped in his tracks.People jostled him, some muttering deprecating remarks, some apologetic.He ignored them all.Something in the air.Some kind of smell.It was familiar, but what?Cologne.Mendon’s cologne.He remembered and was suddenly in the laboratory again._No!!_The airport terminal.Mendon was here!He had gotten past the agents at the in-bound flight gates.And he was now leaving with the rest of the crowd.But Mendon was here!!Reaching up, Lee jerked off the bandage.His eyes instantly began to burn and water, were still unfocussed, but regardless, he saw Mendon walking rapidly away, a fuzzy apparition of death with a briefcase held tightly under one arm.Oh, he looked taller, darker, heavier, but Lee would have been able to pick the scientist out anywhere, through any disguise.**

**  
**

**With his breath held tight in his chest, Lee started off after his tormenter.“Cover me, Admiral.”He broke into a run, shoving the few remaining people right and left.Anger exploded in his mind and heart.Finally he had the chance to get to his tormenter.His left hand gave messages of pain and he realized that he was flexing it into a tight fist.Good!It could do that now.Good….**

**  
**

**Mendon looked over his shoulder and cried out sharply.Lee bore him to the ground in a bone rattling tackle, unmindful of the sharp pain in his right wrist.He was unmindful of anything except the man beneath him.Lee suddenly gasped in shock at the mental picture that flashed in his mind.Mendon had been at his brainwashing more than three years ago.He had been one of his tormenters then, although only in the background.**

**  
**

**“Get the case, Admiral!”He remembered the real reason for his being here even through the red haze of his anger, pain and hatred.Lee shoved his splinted wrist against Mendon’s throat and pushed.**

**  
**

**“Help me!” screamed Mendon before the pressure forced the cry into a croaking sound.Hands tried to tear Lee away from his quarry, but he was now like one demon-possessed.He could not, would not let go of Mendon.**

**  
**

**“Lee, let the courts….”** ****

**  
**

**“He’s killing him!” came another voice.Shouts of panic and screams of fear, but Lee ignored them all.All the frustration, the helplessness, sickness, pain and suffering were demanding their retribution.They would not be denied.**

**  
**

**“No!” the admiral shouted.Crane didn’t have any idea if the shout was for him or for those trying to pull him away from Mendon, but he didn’t care.These were remote bothers, things to be ignored as Lee pushed harder.Physical pain was also ignored.All he could see was the opportunity to exorcise his personal demon.Kill Mendon.**

**  
**

**“Lee!” the admiral shouted, almost in his ear.“Not this way!Let him sit in a cell. Let him feel and think about what he did to you!”**

**  
**

**_What?_ Lee thought.He saw that sometime during all of this, he had transferred his grip to his left hand and was choking the life out of Mendon.His fingers seemed to have gained strength and he continued to squeeze.**

**  
**

**“Lee,” the admiral said more softly.**

**  
**

**Crane felt a hard knot in his chest begin to unravel slightly._But Mendon deserves death! _a cold voice told him._Not this way._His hand continued to press against Mendon’s throat even as hate warred with logic._Yes, let him rot…._Hell, no, kill him now.**

**  
**

**He must have said that last out loud, because the few people left in the area were screaming, calling for help.**

**  
**

**“Lee.”The admiral was gripping his shoulder and trying to pull him away.**

**  
**

**“Yes,” he said in automatic response, without really acknowledging.With a great deal of satisfaction, he saw the terror in Mendon’s eyes, the blue cast to his lips.Lee saw that the fugitive had released the briefcase, which he had kept clutched tightly to his chest.The admiral had it.The admiral had said something about letting Mendon rot?Without loosening his grip, he gazed deeply into Mendon’s eyes.“Do you remember me saying I’d follow you to hell?”He smiled his satisfaction.The admiral’s hand fell away.“I found you, Mendon.I found you, and I’ll see you in court, you son of a….”**

**  
**

**Everything broke apart in an explosion of pain and blackness.**

**  
**

**===============================**

**  
**

**Harriman didn’t even have time to shout a warning as one airport security man jerked him aside and another rushed up and blindsided Lee, bearing him hard against a large concrete pillar.Mendon had apparently been more aware, because he leaped to his feet.The scientist took in the fact that the admiral had a tight grasp of the briefcase, so he turned and began to flee toward the nearest exit.**

**  
**

**“He’s a bioterrorist!” Harriman shouted.“That man must be stopped!”**

**  
**

**Almost before the words were out of his mouth, two men in plain clothes grabbed Mendon and threw him to the floor.** ****

**  
**

**“Get this building evacuated—now!” Nelson shouted.“He could be carrying more biological agents in his clothes.”**

**  
**

**That seemed to mobilize the airport security.Civilians were quickly evacuated from the building without their luggage, even as the two men held Mendon in a tight grip.With the suitcase tightly gripped in one hand, Harriman knelt down beside Lee, who lay still on the hard floor.The admiral felt for a pulse and quickly found one.He sighed in relief, but tensed again when he felt a lump forming on the side of Crane’s head and saw blood on his fingers when he drew his hand away.**

**  
**

**“Admiral Nelson?”** ****

**  
**

**Harriman looked up.He assumed this new person was yet another plain-clothes federal agent.“FBI?” he asked.**

**  
**

**The agent nodded and showed his identification.“We have a doctor coming to take care of your captain."Nelson nodded, got up, looked again at Lee and figured he’d be all right for a moment.He strode over to the still struggling Mendon.“I think you may ultimately wish Captain Crane had followed through on his impulses,” Harriman hissed.“ID’s, gentlemen?” he asked the two men holding the scientist.The men each reached in their jackets with one hand and pulled out identification.Nelson nodded.“He might have something concealed.”**

**  
**

**They nodded indulgently and began to take Mendon from the terminal.Several LA policemen had shown up by that time.**

**  
**

**“Where are you taking him?” Nelson asked, thinking that hell would be too good.** ****

**  
**

**“Police station for now and then to a more secure federal holding, Admiral,” one of the agents told him.**

**  
**

**Harriman sighed.As soon as he could, he would call Washington.This man should really be in a more secure location now, not later.He returned to Lee’s side.A dark-haired, middle-aged woman approached.“I am Dr. Dorene Davis.What happened?”She knelt down by Crane’s side, even as Harriman began explaining briefly the recent events.**

**  
**

**  
**

**===============================**

**  
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**Lee woke to muted talk and soft laughter.He was in a hospital bed.His eyes were bandaged.Reaching back into his memory, he tried to figure out how in the world he had gotten to a hospital, but he had no clues.The last thing he remembered was Mendon.“Mendon!!” he cried out.**

**  
**

**The voices grew silent.**

**  
**

**“Lee,” the admiral said from near his bedside. Chip echoed him.“How are you feeling?” Nelson asked.**

**  
**

**“Admiral, uh, what about Mendon?Is he….?”**

**  
**

**“Indeed he is, thanks to your keen . . . whatever it was,” Nelson replied.“That is the journalistic mystery of the day.”He chuckled softly.**

**  
**

**“Huh?” Lee asked, thoroughly confused.**

**  
**

**“First of all, Mendon is being held under high security, courtesy of the FBI.It would seem that LA-X is trying to backpedal from their lack of, um, rapid response to the whole bio-terrorist episode,” explained Nelson.**

**  
**

**“And the captain of the _Seaview_ was the hero of the hour who pulled their bureaucratic butts from the fiasco that could have been,” added Morton, his voice filled with relieved laughter.“By the way, the admiral asked a question, I think.”**

**  
**

**Lee felt as though he was on a roller coaster of confusion.“What happened at the airport?I mean after I caught Mendon?”**

**  
**

**“You mean after you almost killed the scum?” Chip asked.“To be perfectly honest, Lee, you would have been doing the world a great favor if you had followed through.”**

**  
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**Lee remembered the white-hot anger of the moment, and while he knew the admiral had been right to try and stop him, he didn’t regret his actions, not in the least.If Mendon was in front of him now?He felt his fingers flexing again.Then he noted the more rigid splint on his right arm.**

**  
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**The admiral took up the story.“Apparently, one of the airport security men thought you had gone berserk, attacked a passenger and figured the only way to remedy the situation was to play linebacker and tackle you.He slammed you pretty hard.Added a mild concussion to the mix.”**

**  
**

**“He wasn’t far off,” Lee said with a feral smile.“I guess I really lost it.”**

**  
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**“But by that time the FBI had responded and Mendon didn’t make it another ten feet,” Nelson continued.“And also by this time, the local network affiliates had pounced.The ONI has been having six kinds of fits trying to maintain some semblance of anonymity for you.”**

**  
**

**Lee shrugged.It was at times like these that a loss of usefulness to the ONI would be welcome.“To hell with ONI.”**

**  
**

**Nelson chuckled.“They were only partially successful.The news feeds still credit you with the save, but ONI has limited the amount of background and details allowed out.And they have left word that you are not to give interviews.”**

**  
**

**Lee bristled.“Oh?” he said caustically.“The only reason I would consent to an interview would be to irritate ONI; especially after what they did to me.In fact….”He grinned conspiratorially, “Which station did you say?”**

**  
**

**Nelson chuckled.“I don’t blame you in the least, Lee,” the admiral said.“You saved a lot of lives and deserve some recognition for it.”**

**  
**

**“Well, I’m a little camera shy, so maybe I’ll let ONI off the hook,” Crane said hesitantly.“Maybe.”Then he thought again about what they had put him through.“That nice looking reporter on KXLA still around?”**

**  
**

**Chip laughed uproariously.**

**  
**

**“Well, either way, ONI isn’t off the hook, lad.I have already requested a Naval review board of inquiry into the planning and execution of this mission.What they did was unconscionable,” Nelson said heatedly.“By the way, not to change the subject, but how did you know Mendon was so close?”**

**  
**

**“His cologne.Very distinctive,” Lee replied.“Now I have a question.”There was expectant silence.“What about the eyes?Found the counter-agent for that one?”There was another silence, an awkward one, which told Lee the answer.**

**  
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**“No, but the oculist who’s working with Doc believes that he has figured out how to stop your body from reproducing the chemical that is preventing your eyes from working properly.From there, he believes that it will only be a short time for them to heal and return to normal,” the admiral explained.**

**  
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**Lee knew that was excellent news, but he wouldn’t rejoice until it actually happened.He nodded.“Thanks.And what can I do to get out of here?”Again, the two men laughed.Lee frowned.It was a perfectly viable question.**

**  
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**“We’ll let Doc deal with that one,” Nelson said.**

**  
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**“I’m surprised that he’s not in here now, hovering like a mother hen,” Lee replied sarcastically.** ****

**  
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**“He’s been pretty busy with that biological agent that Mendon tried to release.And with the chemical agent he used on you,” Nelson said patiently.“He’s been in and out.”The admiral chuckled.“But I think that this time, he’s very adamant about you spending quality time sleeping and relaxing.”**

**  
**

**Chip snorted.“I believe his exact words were, ‘The captain’s going to take a break from saving the world if I have to sedate him!’”**

**  
**

**Lee smiled, then he remembered something else.“La’ani?And Na’alu?”**

**  
**

**“I will let La’ani tell you herself,” the admiral said.“She’s been waiting for you to wake up and is just outside.”**

**  
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**“I’ll get her,” Chip offered.**

**  
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**“We both will,” Nelson said firmly.The two men left and Lee was left with his thoughts for a moment before the door opened again.**

**  
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**“Lee?How are you feeling?It seemed like such a long time before they would tell me anything.”**

**  
**

**He felt her light touch on his left hand and realized that only a light gauze wrapping remained.Her fingers seemed to caress without moving and he felt his mood lighten.“Better.How long has it been?Since the airport, I mean?”He had meant to ask the admiral or Chip.**

**  
**

**“It has been over two days.”** ****

**  
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**Lee whistled.“Doc was serious.”Her fingers still lay lightly on his arm.“How’s Na’alu?”**

**  
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**“He is feeling ashamed at having been fooled by Mendon, but otherwise he’s ready to go home.”** ****

**  
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**“And when is that?” he asked, feeling sad, knowing that most likely she would be going home rather soon.** ****

**  
**

**“Tomorrow morning.”She, too, sounded sad.**

**  
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**“I’ll miss you, La’ani.”And he realized that he would.He would have liked to show her around the Institute, Santa Barbara, taken her….Then Lee stopped in mid-thought.Was he thinking of her as a young friend, or like he would one of his nieces or Meeka, the Tirean girl he had partial custody of?He realized that his feelings were beyond that and he berated himself.She was practically young enough to be his child, not his girlfriend.He could be taken into custody for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.**

**  
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**“I will miss you, too, Lee,” she said, her touch still light on his arm.“But you know you will always be welcome on Hikeru.”**

**  
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**“Thanks.Someday, I would actually like to come and ‘see’ your home.”**

**  
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**She laughed softly and that, too, lightened his heart.Then suddenly her lips were on his, in a kiss that was definitely more than that of a child to a parent or a big brother.And before he could stop himself, Lee responded in kind, his own lips tasting the sweetness of her affection. His fingers caressed the back of her neck, filtered through the long, dark hair. Too soon she pulled away and he was left with only the wonder of her presence.**

**  
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**“Good-bye, Lee.Please, come and visit.”**

**  
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**He could only nod at first, then he spoke.“I will.”But he knew that, like his profession to want to see her home, it was most likely a hollow promise.“And please thank A’ona Matua for me.”**

**  
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**“I will.”And then she was gone.**


	28. Foam on the Large Wave

**Epilogue**

**  
**

**  
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**Two weeks later, Lee and the Admiral were walking along the beach near the Institute.The sun sank below the horizon and he was now able to gaze out at the murmuring sea.His feet were bare and his pants rolled up.Lee thought it would probably make a ludicrous sight—service uniform, rolled up pants—but it was comforting to him.He and his father used to do the same thing after one of Dad’s shifts.Adjusting the glasses, he looked out again at the vast ocean expanse.He could almost see the tiniest details of each wave.The golden tinged clouds were in sharp focus.**

**  
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**Lee turned and gazed at the admiral, walking parallel to him, just beyond the water line.He joined his boss and they walked together.A foam covered wavelet rolled close to their feet.“Fisi 'o e nauaoam,” Lee said softly, watching the foam disappear into the sand.**

**  
**

**“What?”** ****

**  
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**“Fisi 'o e nauaoam,” Lee repeated, then translated.“Foam on the large wave.It was something that A’ona Matua said.It was after my escape.I was horribly sick, feeling so out of control. That’s what she said.No explanation, just the phrase.At the time, I could only think about how the foam is simply pushed around and then it disappears.”They walked along a bit further.“Sometimes I feel like the foam.Sometimes, I feel that one of these days, I’ll be on a mission or just doing my duty and I’ll be pushed around so far that I’ll simply disappear.”**

**  
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**“But at other times?”** ****

**  
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**“I remember a Japanese painting.I think you have one in your den, don’t you?”**

**  
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**“Yes, Hiroshige.”** ****

**  
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**“It’s beautiful, the waves with the white foam on top, giving definition and clarity to the movement of the ocean.”** ****

**  
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**“If we wait awhile, we’ll see the foam lighting up the waves in the dark, too.”** ****

**  
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**Lee nodded.“Yes, it does, doesn’t it?” **

**  
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**“Indeed.I guess we can say that there is purpose to the foam on the waves, even when it’s simply being pushed with the currents.”**

**  
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**The tide was coming in.Waves began to lap at Crane’s feet again.The sky was a dark bronze bowl, with only a few golden-red clouds to break the sameness.Again, he remembered sunrises similar to this when he was a boy walking on the beach with his dad, shivering when the cooler Atlantic waters washed over his feet.Even that had more clarity.All of his memories of his father did.Perhaps it was due to the fact that the memories weren’t so heavily tainted with that awful guilt that had crept in whenever he thought of his boyhood.Or when someone under his command lost his life.**

**  
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**Lee continued to watch the waves roll in and out, some covering his feet and then rushing in retreat.The last wave had brought with it a small piece of kelp.He bent down to pick it up and a tiny crab scuttled off and headed back toward the sea.He remembered chasing similar creatures on the east coast. Dad would laugh heartily.Fisi 'o e nauaoam.**

**  
**

**“By the way, Lee,” Nelson said with a wry smile.“I listened to those tapes Doc grabbed from Mendon’s room.”**

**  
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**Crane flushed with embarrassment and consternation, but said nothing.**

**  
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**“Someday you are going to have to tell me about your family’s connection with the Vanderbilt family,” Harriman said with a chuckle.**

**  
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**“Huh?”Lee gazed sharply at the admiral.He didn’t remember that one.** ****

**  
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**“And I liked your answer to Mendon about our secret access codes, too.”** ****

**  
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**Lee tried to think back.It was hard to remember any of the sessions, but this one came back to him.He smirked and then asked.“Damage?”**

**  
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**“Virtually nothing.Your answers were so technical, so Navy and so non-commital, I almost laughed at Mendon’s attempts to get something really important from you.I don’t know how Mendez did it, but I think he innured you from telling any really important secret, apparently.”**

**  
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**Lee was incredulous.“No wonder Mendon was pumping me with so many drugs.”**

**  
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**Nelson grimaced.“I disagree.That was pure evil meanness.He didn’t need an excuse.I said I almost laughed.Knowing the circumstances of what you were going through . . . I couldn’t.”**

**  
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**They continued walking on the beach.Lee enjoyed the feeling of rough warmth enveloping his feet every time he took a step.His mind returned again to the walks he and his dad took when they visited the Outer Banks.The breeze was the same, the crying gulls, the slap of the water and the feeling of caring companionship.Lee saw great similarity between his father and the man beside him.Perhaps that was why he held Harriman Nelson in such high esteem. “Admiral, I, uh,” he began awkwardly.“I wanted to thank you for helping me out the other day.”**

**  
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**Nelson looked puzzled.“With what?”**

**  
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**Lee wasn’t sure what to say.“Your cabin . . . for letting me use your cabin.”**

**  
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**Harriman said nothing.Lee was silent and in that silence something passed between them.The admiral knew instinctively that Lee realized what he had done that morning.He also knew that the younger man was extremely grateful for his doing it.And Nelson also realized, Lord only knew how, that there had not just been two people there that day, but three.And Lee knew it, too.**

**  
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**Only the sea, the wind and the birds spoke during those minutes but silent words of respect, admiration, loyalty and devotion passed between the two men.**

**  
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**  
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**Angie, who had tired of waiting in the admiral’s car, was watching from a nearby stand of rocks.She had marched irritably toward the beach ready to give both men a piece of her mind.Then she felt something, saw that something deep and important was happening down there.She simply stood there a moment, watching.Then she quietly walked back to the car, humming a happy tune.She was no longer worried about the captain, as she had been these past weeks.He would be all right.**

**  
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**They both would.**


End file.
